Spirals In The Sand
by ArcLagoon
Summary: the world's greatest bandit has pulled off the ultimate heist, stealing one of the most sacred treasures in all of Remnant, before leaving his son and daughter with nothing but questions. Now teenagers, the two siblings have ended up in Vacuo thanks to Witness protection, and are seeking to join the prestigious Shade academy in this story 10 years before the main show.
1. Prologue 1

Prologue 1: Weathersky

A young girl gripped the blade of her sword a little tighter, digging her boots into the snow as she looked at the man standing across from her. Her long, dirty blonde hair covering one of her eyes, the other bang held back by a bow. The man across from her was tall, with dark skin and wearing the traditional Mistral samurai garb, with a purple silk belt wrapped around his waist. He was relaxed, a calm, focused expression on his face framed with braided black hair and purple streaks. "Ready to try again, Nia?" He asked, drawing his bladeless katana; his easygoing voice making the tense student relax just enough for her hands to stop shaking. "Y-yeah, let's do this." She replied, her legs widening her stance lower for better balance.

A younger boy got up from his seat, running through in a puffy purple jacket and matching purple snow boots. "Okay, but I'm the referee!" He said, jumping up into the air to try landing between them. "Roooound one! Fi-" When he landed on his feet, he was leaning too far forward, landing face first in the snow, getting a mouthful of Atlas snow in his mouth. The expression on Nia's face immediately turned into a frown. "SIlas! What are you even doing!?" She shouted, as her mentor began to laugh at the boy who took a faceplant.

"What's a fight without a referee, Nia!?" Silas said, spitting some of the snow out of his mouth as he got back onto his feet, frowning at his older sister. "You can't just run in the way during my Huntress training! What do you want, a facefull of sword?" She complained, the laughter continuing across from the other side of her back yard. "River, tell Silas to park it before he gets hurt! Maybe he respects you at least." She pleaded to her teacher, River began to stroke his goatee, looking down at the little brother. "How about front row seats?" He asked the boy, his wild brown hair and bright green eyes staring up at the tall man. He pointed the blade of his katana at a fallen tree in the yard. "Sit on that log until we're done, lil guy." He requested, Silas nodded, hopping each foot to get out of the snow on each step; the short 10 year old hopping to the log, brushing the snow off so he could sit on it.

"Back to it then." He said, turning back to see Nia missing. "Lesson number two, always be prepared!" She shouted, brandishing her saber as she attacked from above. He flourished his katana, easily blocking the falling 12 year old's blade. "And lesson number four, think about your next move before you make the first one!" He shot back, parrying her blade to the side, reaching out and grabbing her arm, throwing her away from him and sending her spilling into the snow, kicking up flakes into a cloud of white dust as she drug her blade into the ground as a brake. She yanked the blade back out of the snow as River took the offensive, sword in the sheath as he drew the blade from the scabbard and slashed at her at the same time. She blocked it, sliding back as a blast of wind knocked up enough snow in an arc behind her to reveal some of the grass underneath. She gasped, tucking her head into her shoulder so she wouldn't inhale the cloud of snow he knocked up. He knocked the blade away with a quick riposte, before delivering a swift kick in her chest.

Moving with the motion of the kick, she quickly sprung back, leather glove clad hands pushing off the ground and springing back onto her feet, River followed up, striking her chest with the dull blade, which Nia caught under her arm and struck him in the neck with her own blade. Quickly, the two both spun away from each other, Nia getting into a low stance and waiting for the next strike, when he noticed her body began to softly flash a blue color. "And that's enough for tonight." He decided, sliding his sword back into his sheathe as Nia stood there confused. "W-what?" Nia asked, when Silas chimed in the distance. "I think I saw her Aura break!" He said, hands cupping over his mouth for extra volume. "No way that happened, I'm fine!" She said, spinning the saber and tucking it back into her own scabbard, taking three steps before her knees grew too weak to hold her, causing her to kneel down in the snow.

"It looks like you still have a stamina problem, Nia. You need to be focus more on your breathing and keep up the interval training I gave you." He explained, Nia taking deeper breaths as she struggled back onto her feet. "Is that all?" She asked in anticipation, he rubbed his goateed chin in thought. "Hmmm.. You should open a bookstore." He exclaimed with a smile. "...A bookstore?" She asked, completely confused. "Cuz everything you do is easy to read!" He said, a shouting in the background as Silas hopped off his seat, running over and going for a fist bump. Nia responded by burying her face into her hands, a muffled groan of annoyance from the encouragement of her annoying little brother.

Suddenly, in one of his pockets there was a ringing noise. He pulled out a holographic device typical of Huntsmen, a Scroll. "Oh, looks like I gotta cut this lesson short you guys; Atlas needs me." He explained, looking up the hillside and at the huge, prestigious academy in the distance. "Like… the city Atlas, the Kingdom Atlas or the school Atlas?" Silas asked with his childlike curiosity. River blinked a few times at the question, he never thought about that. "The school, specifically." The instructor clarified, getting a slow nod from the dark haired boy. Quickly, River lept into the air, kicking his geta off a fence post as he began to hop from roof to roof into the distance.

Silas turned back to his older sister, who was gently brushing the snow off her coat before it could melt and seep into her clothing. Still tired from the sparring match with her trainer, she slid her blade back into the scabbard and walked up the awning covered concrete porch. She grabbed the sliding set of glass doors by the handle, pulling it open as she stepped out of the way of the door, gesturing to Silas. "I'll make dinner for us, since mom isn't back yet." Nia said, pulling out a pan from the cupboard, before heading to the fridge and grabbing a handful of eggs and some milk. "I didn't know you were a cook, Nia." Silas said, watching her from behind as she preheat the pan. She then cracked the eggs in a small bowl, adding some milk and spices before she turned to face him while mixing the contents in the bowl with a fork.

"Mom taught me, she said when I become a huntress I'll need to know how to take care of myself; so any time you were at school she taught me things like this." She said, hovering her hand over the pan before pouring the whipped eggs into it, grabbing a spatula from the drawer and idly moving it around. "...Doesn't Atlas Academy have a cafe? I remember there was a cafe." He said, with a quizzical pout on his face. She chuckled softly, looking back at him.

"I've heard horror stories about the cafe from back when Mom was a student, Apparently someone didn't wash their hands after cutting the meat; and Ironwood's beginning exam had to get delayed a week for all the food poisoning that happened." She explained, a shocked look forming on Silas' face as he thought about it. "I can't even imagine that much puking." Silas said to himself quietly, his older sister stifling a giggle as she shook the pan to jostle the eggs around.

"Let's try to keep this cooking session conversation as far from puking as possible. SIlas, can you go make some toast? Scrambled eggs need toast." She asked, Silas nodding as he went over to get some bread slices, grabbing a small step stool on the floor and dragging it to the toaster so he could pop the bread in and get the toast for her. He pushed the lever down, as the elements began to turn red from the heat. He waited patiently as the bread began to cook. Nia took the eggs off the stove now that they were fluffy and properly cooked, pouring it onto two small saucers as four pieces of toast pop out of the toasted at the same time. "Gotcha!" Silas shouted, slapping his hand through the air to catch all four pieces of toast, before he realized his hand was burning. "O-ow! Why did I do that!?" He shouted, dropping the toast on the counter and hopping off the little stool, shaking his hand to get rid of the pain.

Nia put her hands on each hip, glaring at him. "You're just full of surprises today, aren't you?" She asked with a sarcastic tone, as Silas placed the toast down on the table and put a pad of butter on each one, stacking them neatly and putting them on the plate so they could eat. They sat opposite of eachother on the mahogany table, forks in hand, though Nia was using her left hand to eat while Silas used his right. "Can I ask you something?" Nia spoke between bites, Silas was eating faster, fast enough that he had to pause for actually breathing. "What?" He asked, fork hanging from his mouth.

"Since your birthday was a month ago, you're actually getting to the age you can start training to become a huntsman, why haven't I heard anything about that from mom or dad?" She asked, taking a sip from her glass of water. Silas looked down at his plate, before grabbing a piece of toast to eat that as well. "I dunno… I mean; Huntsmen and the academy are super important but I just don't see myself doing it. I want to do something else." He said with an honest, if concerned look on his face like he just answered the question incorrectly. "So… What would you rather do?" She asked, he got off the chair, raising a pointed finger in the air.

"I want to be… A superstar!" He proclaimed, chewing the scenery by putting on an accent. "Y'know… the ones you see on TV. They make big stage shows in Vale with lights, live tigers, dancing! It's totally awesome and I want to be on primetime! I want a stage name; and my own theme song! Stuff like that." He said, without breaking from his pose. "...And somehow you pick something harder than becoming a Huntsman." Nia joked as Silas took a couple of sips of his juice to wash down the toast and eggs.

"It's not like there's anything wrong with being a hero, it's just…" Silas trailed off for a second as he took a moment to think. "It just feels like being a huntsman is nothing but getting killed by a giant Grimm." He said, causing Nia to nearly choke on her own juice from hearing it. "There isn't any splendor, it doesn't make anybody happy… and that's all I want to do." He said, poking at his food a bit as there were only a few bites left. "A scientist had a theory that the Grimm feed off of negativity, we have to be optimistic about it and hope we can protect other people." She replied, softly getting off her chair and scooting it back underneath the table. "Anyway, we're supposed to be defeating the Grimm so they can't attack us anyway, isn't that a good thing?" She asked, letting Silas finish and hand her his plate so she put can both of them in the dishwasher.

"Then go do that, all I'm saying is I don't think dying is going to make the world a better place, that's all." He said, putting his hands into his pockets. Nia frowned at that before thinking for a second. "Go take a bath, Silas. I'm going to get you to bed before mom and dad get back home." She said, a little disappointed that her little brother wasn't as interested in huntsmen as she was. She went upstairs, undoing the bow in her hair and wrapping it around an arm so it fell loose on each side of her face as she looked down the hallway. Strangely, the door to her parents bedroom was still open, a lone light illuminating the end of the dark hallway as her little brother walked past her, going to the other end of the hall and heading to the bathroom to start the shower.

"Dad…?" Nia muttered to herself, walking to the door and poking her head through to see on the other side of the oak door. The room was rather large compared to the shared bedroom of Nia and Silas, massive bookshelves framing one side of the wall, the other having a dresser, a mirror and several photos placed on top of the mahogany table. The window was opened, and on the queen sized bed there were three objects resting on it. A folded piece of paper, a small bouquet of flowers and a locket.

Curious, Nia slowly walked up to the flowers and inspected them, a group of pink Dahlia flowers wrapped with a pink string to hold them together inside the bouquet. Then, she grabbed the silver locket, cracking it open to reveal a picture on the inside of it. It was back in her first ever school dance. Her father, Leon, her mother Cadia, and a 5 year old Silas wearing a tuxedo way too big for him standing next to Nia wearing a beautiful white dress with her 7 year old date, looking bored out of his mind, partially cut off by the dimensions of the locket. She set it back on the bed, before grabbing the paper and unfolding it.

Inside the letter was a rather well written, despite the ink still feeling wet to the touch, the scent of the fresh, drying ink making Nia wince just a bit from how pungent ink can be. She began to read though the paper, hands on the corners to not touch or smudge her fingers on the ink.

 _"Before I explain anything I want to say something to you, and I hope it's my daughter reading this because I'm not sure Silas would be ready to understand just yet. Everything that is going to happen to you two is going to be entirely my fault. Don't blame Ironwood, don't blame Atlas, don't blame your mother; please. If there is one person you should hate, it should be me for the dire mistakes I've done that put you two in danger._

 _I told the two of you that I was a huntsman and so was Cadia, but I've been deceiving you. I'm one of the worst kinds of people out there and I didn't want you to find out, because I couldn't live with myself if what I did influenced either of you. I'm a thief, I've lived nearly my whole life being a thief and when I had my first daughter, I wondered to myself how I could ever take care of someone so innocent with money taken from the worst kinds of people; and I've only realized this very night that maybe I wasn't fit to be a father, or a husband._

 _Cadia's dead, and it's entirely my fault. My boss asked the two of us to take a job that I didn't understand just how significant it would really be and we accepted. We both knew the consequences, but I just wish that I realized that what I was doing affected the two of you. You have nothing to do with this. If you're still reading this, Nia, I have to leave. There are still some things I have to do and I don't wish to involve anyone else in my family in my deeds, I've already made that mistake once and it cost me the life of someone I could never replace._

 _Be a good girl, Nia. Please don't try and find me, it isn't worth it._

 _\- Leon._

Nia's eyes began to blur with tears after that, as all the strength drained from her knees, as she bit her lower lip to compose herself. The sounds of sirens began to blare in her ears as the Atlas police force and members of Atlas Academy broke down their door to come and arrest her father.


	2. Prologue 2

Prologue 2: Perdix

In the dark, cold shed, flashes of blue light and buzzing sounds filled the air as a young woman worked in the darkness, her face covered in a black welding mask wrapped tight by black straps around her head. She was wearing leather gloves, and a tank top covered with a smock to stop the sparks from burning her clothes. In her right hand a torch, and in her left a tungsten electrode to fuse the metals together. The girl was humming quietly to herself a song she heard earlier in the day as she continued to weld the metal frame set on the table.

It appeared to be a chassis to some kind of robot, as she was welding together parts in accordance to a dimly lit blueprint set on her table. She finished welding the leg joints, before leaning up to weld on a shoulder, between the loud noises of the welding, and torches, and fire, a voice began to grow louder and louder muffled by the shed she was in. "Phoebe? Phoebe! What are you doing, Phoebe!?" A male voice shouted, knocking on the door louder and louder to try and get her attention. She sighed, putting down the welding tool and turning off the torch with a hissing sound as she slowly took off her smock, setting it on a chair and opening the door to see an older man in a black and white suit with a bow tie, his black slicked back hair framing his stern, goateed face.

Phoebe stared up at him through her welding mask, not saying anything in response to him calling her. "Ms. Pheobe… Your father's dinner with Mr. Schnee is in fifteen minutes, are you sure you want to be late for this?" He asked, leaning down and grabbing her welding mask to pull it up and reveal her face. Her soft blue eyes staring up at him, her face stained with dirt and sweat and framed by her matted black hair, currently tied up into two pigtails to stop her hair from getting lit on fire. Suddenly, she closed her eyes, covering them with a forearm to block the light. "Briiiiight! Bright! bright! Bright! Why did you do that, Xander!?" She complained, glaring at him through her closed eyes.

"Are you working on robots again?" Xander asked with his very deep voice, she opened one eye. "Whatever I'm welding is a personal project, you wouldn't get it." She complained with a frown on her face. Reaching into her pant pocket, she pulled out a pair of black framed glasses and put them on. "You know, since you're part of Perdix Robotics, you would think you would actually make these robots for your engineering class instead of spending your teenage years inside a shed." He scolded, but she took her welding mask off fully and tossed it back inside the shed. "Don't. Insult. The workshed. Magic happens in there, and neither my dad or the Schnee Dust Company will ever know what wonders will be made there." She proclaimed, pumping her fist.

"...Robots aren't magic, Phoebe." Xander bluntly pointed out, before she spun back around to point a finger at him accusingly. "Oh put a pipe in it, what did you say about dinner with Jacques a bit ago?" she asked, Xander sighing and shaking his head. "Jacques wanted to speak to him and the family because he told me he was going to propose a… unique opportunity for him." He explained, Phoebe nodding a bit. "Well… I sorta forgot about that, okay?" She mentioned, tilting her head to the side. Xander quietly shook his head, turning his back to her and gesturing to Phoebe to follow him to the car, which was pulled out front with it's engine quietly humming on next to the berm on a snow plowed road.

He opened the back door of the luxury sedan, gesturing inside for her to get in the car. She complied, climbing into the car and putting on her seatbelt before reaching into her pocket and pulling out her Scroll. Pressing a few buttons on the interface and playing a puzzle game on it as she was escorted to Schnee manor. Eventually, after a needlessly long road, they pulled up to the back entrance of the mansion, a glorious white fascia mixed with gold and several stories high, with more windows than one can count. Butlers dressed in white, contrary to the black Xander was wearing were waiting near the back entrance of the mansion, one holding the door open and the other standing with their hands behind their back.

Phoebe and Xander both exited the car, the older man approaching a rather short, rotund man with balding hair and a rather nice moustache. "Ah, Mr. Xander." He said with a smile hidden beneath his moustache, holding out a gloved hand for the taller butler to shake. Xander shook the hand, giving a small bow of his head as they spoke. "Mr. Sieben, it's been a long time since you've taught me how to be an excellent butler." He replied, the shorter man breaking the handshake and walking up to Phoebe, doing the same gesture to shake his hand. "And Ms. Perdix, you're even more beautiful than when I last saw you, you're growing to become a splitting image of your mother." He said softly, though Phoebe didn't shake his hand right away since it was still covered in grease.

"What's up?" She said, giving him a peace sign. He chuckled to hide a sigh, since it seemed her etiquette training didn't change her attitude since he last saw her. "Your father is waiting inside for you, you'd best get dressed into something less… robust and go meet him in the dining room." Mr Sieben requested, Phoebe crossing her arms and walking past him, the other butlers in white walking just in front of her to escort her and her own butler into the mansion. The halls were just the same shade of ivory as the outside of the house, but the marble floors, wide hallways and dozens of hand painted pieces of art along the walls made Phoebe feel like she was in a home that doesn't belong to anybody, the heating system making the air slightly too cold to be comfortable.

Eventually, after what felt like walking for half a mile or so without actually finding the place to go, they escorted Phoebe to the dressing room. Leaving her at the door to figure out her own outfit from a massive walk in closet of formal clothing, all of it being the same color as nearly everything in the Schnee home, white. She sighed a bit, grabbing her clothes and getting dressed into an outfit that doesn't annoy her. A white suit, with a black undershirt with a red ruffled cravat, and matching white pants and shoes. After leaving the dressing room, she entered the dining room, which was absolutely massive even for her. She was standing in front of two double doors and there was a balcony, along with a staircase leading down an entire story to the table, which looked like it seated about twenty.

She quickly went down the stairs, skipping a few steps at a time for efficiency's sake, before she approached an older man with black, slicked hair that was greying at the temples, the only facial hair on him was a soul patch underneath his bottom lip, his green eyes looking over to Phoebe with a stone faced expression. "Phoebe… You're late." He said, his voice was slurred slightly thanks to his accent that made him speak rather slow and deliberately. Phoebe sighed, pulling out her chair and scooting herself into the seat beside him, looking somewhat annoyed. "What's different than every other dinner you've had with Jacques that you would have to invite me to it? I don't like formal wear." She complained, adjusting her coat since it was slightly too tight around her arms.

"Well if you actually read the emails I send to you, this very dinner could have an effect on the Perdix name for generations, now please, don't say anything stupid and only answer questions people ask you." He demanded, she sighed, crossing her arms and leaning forward until he grabbed one and lightly gestured to keep her elbows off the table. The double doors opened again as the Schnee family slowly descended the stairs. The was the elder, Jacques wearing a white suit like the rest of his family. His almost white hair except for some small lines of black hair showing his age. Next to him was his elder daughter, Winter, the teen gently holding the hand of her little sister, Weiss who only stood about as tall as Winter's stomach.

Holding Jacques' hand, was the youngest brother Whitley, but oddly the mother seemed to be missing out of the group. A butler pulled out everybody's chairs, Jacques, Winter and Whitley all climbed into their chairs, but Weiss did a little hop up to hers. "I'm glad the Patriarch and his daughter could both spend time out of the weekend to attend official business." He said, as the butlers began to wheel in food for the entire group. The butlers began to fill Phoebe's glass with ice and water, along with tea for her father. Phoebe looked across the table, to see the younger sister of Winter staring up at her with her bright blue eyes.

Food began to slide onto the table, each butler giving a different meal on every plate. Weiss got a piece of fried fish with garnish, and Phoebe got some chowder. Reaching down to the plate, Phoebe grabbed the second spoon on the right. "Oh, oh!" Weiss said, leaning forward onto the table a bit. "That's the tea spoon, lady. Daddy tells me you need to use the soup spoon. It's the bigger one." She said, pointing to the spoon on the left of the one she just grabbed. Phoebe paused for a bit, gently setting it back on the table and grabbing the other one so dip into the chowder. "Yay~" Weiss exclaimed in Phoebe's correct use of spoons.

"I understand that your daughter is planning on joining Atlas Academy as a student, Waylon." Jacques mentioned to Phoebe's father, he nodded, taking a bite out of the salad he had been given. "Indeed, I want her to represent the wonders of Perdix Robotics, especially since it's a subsidiary of the Schnee Dust Company." He said, Jacques nodding in response and taking a moment to pause as he slipped a glass of white wine. "Indeed, and I agree that this case of positive advertising would in fact benefit the public image of my company, we have not had a member of the company training in the academy before, typically we involve ourselves in either exports or bolstering our own military." He continued, as Phoebe ignored what he was talking about completely to focus on eating free chowder.

"But, my researchers have discovered something grand in the deserts of Vacuo." He said, snapping his fingers as his butlers wheeled in a board just behind him veiled in a small blanket to cover its details. Pulling it off was an aerial photo of a desert, in the center was a group of what appeared to be multicolored igneous rocks. "This is what could possibly be described as the largest amount of Dust geodes I've ever witnessed in my lifetime." Jacques explained, which raised Waylon's brow a bit as he listened carefully. "To use your technology to make a mine, we can turn the SDC to what could be perhaps a national power in Remnant." He said proudly, hand to his chest.

"I'm going to be giving you a loan to build an offshoot of the SDC in the capital city of Vacuo, you two will move there and I'll allow you to supervise and run it as you wish." He continued, Waylon giving a little smile in response. "And what of my daughter?" He asked, Jacques thinking for a second by stroking his chin before he came up with an idea. "We'll have your daughter at Shade to advertise the company and give it attention, the academy is one of their biggest sources of income for the city so having a presence there is an absolute must." Jacques replied, suddenly, the soup spoon that Phoebe was holding was dropped, slowly sinking into the bowl until it disappeared.

"What?" Phoebe asked, standing up from her table, hands smacking on each side of her bowl and nearly spilling her glass of water onto the lavish surface. "You heard him, you'll join Shade Academy instead of Atlas; this is a great opportunity for both of us." Waylon explained. "But, what about my workshop? I have years of work in there and I can't just abandon all of it…" She complained, but Jacques just sneered a bit as her father cleared his throat. "Maybe it's time for you to focus on what's best for your family, and not just your weird side projects. It's time for the hobbies to stop, Phoebe." He scolded, but Phoebe just growled, getting up from the table and storming up the stairs to the doors leading out of the dining room.

"You know what happened last time you did something 'for the business'? I lost my mom." She snapped at the group at the table, slamming the door shut with an echo. She stormed through the halls, before heading out the back exit and tucking her hands into her pocket as she walked up to a small hill on the property overlooking the town of Atlas as the sun slowly began to set. Snow blew in during the dinner, and was glistening against the setting sun in shades of red and gold. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her sleeve. "Dad, I can-" She stopped, when the person who tugged her collar appeared to be a young girl, not even ten years old.

"Oh, it's you, Weiss… Sorry." She said with a frown, Weiss looked up at her concerned, her big eyes framed by her white hair with a sad look on her face. "Uhm…" the little girl said, nervously as she looked at the ground for a second, before looking back up at her. "W-winter told me just because your dad thinks you have to be just like him.. Doesn't mean you have to run the company the same way he does." She said, trying to remember what her older sister said verbatim. Phoebe's face softened a bit, as she softly squatted down so their faces matched in height. "I heard from Winter you make lots of cool robots that you send to Atlas all the time." She said with a little smile on her face, Phoebe just nodded once in response.

"You could always just make more robots in Vacuo, right?" She asked again, but Phoebe just laughed once and gently ruffled her hair for a second. "Y'know… I guess you're right, lil lady." She said, standing back up as she watched her father storm out of the building planning on taking her home and quickly flying her to Vacuo before she could complain some more. "Hope to see you again, Weiss!" She said, as she was dragged by the sleeve into the car.


	3. Prologue 3

Prologue 3: Wei Yun

"Rao!" A voice shouted from the beach shoreline, but the voice could barely be heard in the water by the young girl swimming underwater with a spear clutched in one hand. Her vision darted from left to right, trying to ignore the sting of the ocean's salt water getting in her eyes. Suddenly, she spotted a big shadow underneath of her. She spun her spear a few times, catching it on hand and tossing it as hard as she could, impaling the shadow with the spear. She swam down deeper as fast as she could, grabbing the spear and yanking it out of the creature she hit, tucking it underneath her arm and swimming back up to the surface with a big gasp of air as the desert sun hit her face.

"Heeey, Kiria! Lookie!" She shouted at the orange blur on the beach, pulling the thing under her arm overtop of her head. Above her head now was a now dead tuna fish, the spear hit right in the center. "Dinner for the family! All courtesy of me, of course." She said with a little giggle. Flopping the fish over her shoulder as she gently began to paddle through the calm waters of the Windless Sea, until she felt her feet hit the shore. She ran up the shore until the water began to drip off her. She had short, fiery orange hair in a wild haircut, but one long braid of hair down her back ending near her hips, tied with a ribbon on the end, she was wearing a simple outfit made of hempen cloth over her body that covered her dark tan skin, atop her head were a pair of two feline ears and coming out of her hips was a long, orange striped tail to match.

The girl she was speaking to was almost an adult compared to her, but looked very similar, though her hair was to her shoulders and not tied up, her golden slitted eyes peering down to the shorter girl with a fish. "Good job, lil sis! But you can't keep holding your breath for that long, you'll hurt your head." She said with a chuckle, walking up and taking the Tuna from her little sister, putting it on her own shoulder. "Let's take this to dad so he can cook it up for dinner." She added, hopping off the sandy beach as Kiria's wooden sandals gently clicked against the ground on each step, compared to the barefoot padding of Rao.

The village was simple, yet had a rustic feeling to it, smooth cobble running along the road between houses with a small river running through it that turned the sand into green shrubbery. In Vacuo, it was a little oasis Rao called home. But something was amiss in her home, a large group of Faunus were in front of her house, their voices mixed into a ravenous crowd. In the front of the house, a large, imposing man standing with a massive brown beard and a bald head stood in front of the group, two pairs of antlers atop his head. "Open up, Daero. You cannot evade us forever!" He shouted, the crowd showing their support with cheers. "Yeah, Get out here you coward!" Another man shouted, "No more outsiders!" chimed in an older woman in the group.

A frown formed on Rao's face as she looked up at her older sister, who matched her expression. "What's happening?" Rao asked, adjusting the large fish on her shoulder so she wouldn't lose grip of the slippery scales of the dead tuna she was holding. Kiria quietly began to rub her chin as she sneered at the group. "Rivus is trying another protest of dad, it looks like." She mentioned, looking to her younger sister. "Look, let's just go in through the back door, alright?" She asked, Rao nodding as they began to circle around the side of the group of several dozen Faunus standing at their front door, quietly sneaking together and hopping the small wooden fence that blocked off their back yard.

Walking just past the garden, Kiria opened the back door to their home letting her sister through as their mother's feline ears perked at the sound of someone opening their back door. She was a woman who despite the fact she was in her 40's, was still barely grasping onto her appearance of youth, the only hint being the laugh lines on her face. "Oh, Rao! I didn't think you would be out this late." She said, walking over to the both of them and leaning down to give her youngest daughter a tight hug.

"Hey! I got dinner riiiight here." She said, returning the hug with one hand and then giving the fish a couple of wiggles to show off what she caught. Her mother gently reached up between her ears and started rubbing the top of her head. "Aww, I'm proud of you, Rao darling… You're just like your father." She said with a nostalgic smile to her face. "At least, before this whole problem we're dealing with." Kiria chimed in, standing back and to the side of Rao and her mother. She sighed, letting go of Rao and standing up, slowly leaning over the edge of the kitchen as Rao slid the fish onto the counter, looking to her husband. "Ever since the hunting incident a month ago, bigger and bigger crowds keep showing up in front of our home to throw Daero from his position of Village chief… I'm afraid they're going to break our doors down and do something that could tear this village apart." She said.

Their father, a massive man covered in scars, hair down to nearly his thighs stood solemnly, looking out the shutters of his windows, large arms crossed in front of his broad chest. "What should we do?" Rao asked her mom, as she smiled a little, rubbing Rao's head some more. "Your dad's a wise man, he's the most quiet when he's thinking of a solution." She added. Daero slowly walked to the front door, opening it and walking into the crowd in a mass of booing as he stood to look down at Rivus. "You and I both know this needs to end, Rivus. The peace of the village is being compromised, and I don't want to drag this out." He stated, the crowd growing silent as the other man stood close, glaring at him.

"You're not fit to lead us, you took in human outsiders and took them hunting with our people, and they betrayed us, took our food and killed our men." Rivus said with a glare, but Daero just quietly nodded. "If you wish to take the title away from me, you must earn it." Daero stated, before raising an arm and pointing to the peak of a large, jagged mountain in the horizon. "And we'll do this the way our forefathers did… You will battle me at the peak of Mt. Kujata. If you defeat me, when you come back down the mountain you will greet this village as its sole elder. If I win, you will leave this village and never return." He explained, Rivus giving a quiet nod as he turned away from the elder. "We meet tonight, Elder." He said, walking down the stairs as the crowd split to allow him to walk through.

The crowd dispersed as well, as Daero walked back inside to concerned looks of the three women that constituted his family. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" The mother asked, but Daero just quietly put his hand on her shoulder, pulling her close and gently bumping their foreheads together. "The reason I'm elder is because of my combat abilities… if I can't even protect the village from itself… I don't deserve the title of elder." He said, his wife nodding some as they all head back inside.

It was oddly quiet in Rao's home as he prepared himself for battle, spending a few hours polishing the blade of his weapon, a spear his grandfather gave him as slowly the villagers walked to the exit of the village, some holding torches as they waited for Daero's entrance to the battle of village elder. The tiger faunus walked with his entire family in tow, the three women flanking his side, with Rao in the back, timidly hugging her arms to her chest as the nights in Vacuo get extremely cold as soon as the sun drops below the horizon of the windless sea. An older woman with bear ears stood in the center, as Daero walked up to stare down his rival. "My daughter has placed a torch on the top of Mt. Kujata, the one who brings it back will be the village chief. None of the members of the village are allowed to influence this as it is a battle between two potential leaders. Is this alright?" She explained, Rivus quietly spinning his blade and pointing it out to threaten Daero with it.

The two men nodded, as Daero walked over to his wife, gently holding her face with his large hand and softly leaning down to give her a kiss on her lips. She tried to hide the tears welling up in her eyes as he shined a sharp toothed smile at her. "This isn't the first time my leadership has been questioned, don't worry sweetheart." He said, closing his eyes. The woman gently wrapped her arms around his body, giving him a gentle hug as he reached down to pet Rao on the top of her head. "And you better not let your mom cry either, that's your job; okay?" He said with a little chuckle, the girl nodding her head and smiling up at him. "Get 'em, dad!" She said, pumping a fist into the air.

"Begin!" The older woman shouted, as the two men launched off their back foot and running off to the distance to return the torch. Rao looked up at her older sister and her mother as the group slowly began to disperse back to their homes, while few stood at the gate to await their winner to come back. "Do you think he's gonna be okay, Kiria…?" Rao asked, her ears gently flattening to her head as she looked at the ground. Kiria gave her sister another hug, one arm wrapping around her shoulder and giving her a squeeze. "I think he could beat an Ursa in a fist fight if he wanted… He'll probably be just fine." She said, with a flick of her striped tail to give her sister a little more confidence.

"It's getting late, I think you should just go to bed and deal with whatever happens tomorrow." She said, looking over to her mother as she nodded softly. Rao hopped once, before running back to her house a bit faster than her family, heading inside and going into her bedroom. She closed the door behind her, gently walking over to her hammock and climbing inside after a couple of struggled attempts not to get flipped over by it. Sitting up, looking out of the window as a loud, but distant screech could be heard to her ears, eyes widening a bit as she saw the moonlight get completely covered by a shroud of shadows.

Leaning out of her hammock and putting both of her hands onto the window as she recognized the wide wingspan of the creature flying over head. It was a Nevermore, a massive ebony bird with glowing red eyes, with an external armor plating over it. A peat of its wings caused the palm trees to bend with gusts of wind, making her realize just how large it was. She followed the silhouette, as it slowly began to fly toward a mountain. "Mt. Kujata…" She muttered to herself, rushing out of her hammock, only to get her leg caught, making her do a flip, getting trapped in the hammock and eventually getting dumped onto the floor with a thud.

Growling in frustration, she got back onto her feet and ran out the door of her bedroom to the living room, where her mother was quietly standing in front of an open door with a look of concern on her face. "Rao, Kiria ran off to find dad; I don't understand why, but she shrugged me off and ran out of the front door." She said, Rao looking at the ground for a second to think. "That must mean she…" She trailed off, before looking back at the open door. "Mom, I'm going to get Kiria!" She said, running over to the wall and yanking one of the family's spears off of it, spinning it once and holstering it against her back with a leather strap.

Before her mom could say anything, Rao used her natural speed to bolt out of the door, down the stairs and out the exit of the village leading to the trail that went to Mt. Kujata. The trail went past a small savannah of trees, before the water slowly dried out to jagged rocks. Rao promptly scaled a tree, digging her claws into the bark and hopping gently onto a branch so she could use her eyes better. The sun was down and the clear skies made seeing the horizon difficult, but thanks to her eyes, she could still just barely see a familiar silhouette in the distance. "Found her." She muttered to herself, drawing her spear and leaping off the tree, landing in the brush with a small tumble to break the fall and not take any damage from such a dramatic drop, breaking into a full run, staying on the trail so her bare feet wouldn't step on any snaked or spiky brush while she chased her sister.

"Kiria! Kiriaaaaa!" She shouted as the gap closed, when Rao noticed that Kiria wasn't at the base of the mountain yet, and seemed to be struggling against something. Kiria was face to face with about 3 beowolves, standing at the haunches to be even taller than the tiger faunus, who currently was blocking a bite with her weapon, a pair of Claw gauntlets. Another beowulf swiped at her, knocking her away. "Rao, what are you doing!?" She shouted, spotting her sister on the corner of her eye. Rao spun her spear, lobbing it as hard as she could, until she stumbled forward from the shift of her weight. The beowulf who knocked Kiria onto the ground, red eyes leering at the older teen before having a spear lodged through its head, making it crash to the floor in a slump.

"If you're getting dad, I'm coming with you!" Rao shouted, running as fast as she could, leaping into the air, before landing just in front of her sister, pushing her foot to the side of the dead Grimm's head and pulling the spear out with a sickening squelch, black blood splattered onto the speartip before she spun it a few times in her fingers, making the slippery blood fly off. Kiria sighed, getting into a low stance as they got ready to fight. "Okay, but you have to follow my lead." Kiria responded, getting a quiet nod from Rao. "Cover me!" She shouted, dashing into the group of the five remaining Grimm. Dodging a blow by ducking under it, slashing two slices into the chest of the Beowolf, making it cry out in pain. Another one was encroaching behind her, but her sister Rao noticed quickly, leaping into the air behind it and slamming the tip of the spear into the back of one of the monster's legs to make it trip.

Kiria finished with an uppercut into the soft part of the Grimm's Jaw, forcing claws out the top of it's head and sending it limp. Kiria then slid the blade out, letting it fall to the ground as Rao climbed onto the back of the Grimm, sitting on it's shoulders as she dug the blade through the back of its neck, lowering the number to three. Slowly recollecting themselves as the Grimm began to fade into ashes, pushing themselves back to back. "Duck!" Kiria shouted, a Beowolf lunging over their heads. "And… Leap!" She shouted next, both jumping almost in unison. Rao stabbing the back of the neck of the lower Beowolf, sending its body to the ground. "Two left…" Kiria said with a smile as one leapt at her, she landed on her back, planting both her feet into its chest and launching it over her head, landing it on its back as she watched Rao, following up with another high impact spear lob, this one going nearly down its throat.

Dashing to the tip of the spear, she grabbed it, pole vault over it and launching a hard knee right into the face, forcing the beast to stumble back, dropping down into the splits to let her sister leap over her shoulders, slashing it one last time to finish off the small group of beasts without seemingly a single scratch to Rao. They slowly walked away from the monsters, Rao using the brush to clean the blood off her spear as Kiria bent forward, panting to catch her breath. "T-thanks sis. There were too many for me to take on alone." She said, rubbing between the ears of her Faunus little sister. "I kind of figured you would go after dad." Rao said with a little smile, the two of them turning to the mountain as Kiria spoke. "That Nevermore that flew toward the mountain. That's too dangerous for a stupid spat on who would be the village chief, he needs help and we're gonna give him it." She continued, her sister pumping a fist. "Yeah! You know it!" Rao said with a big smile on her face. "It's going to be a long wa-" Kiria was cut off when she heard heavy footsteps coming from behind the two of them.

"DOWN!" She shouted, shoving Rao to the ground, sending her tumbling into a small trench beside the dirt trail they were walking on, landing in the shallow stream as a massive beast landed in front of where the two were previously standing. A Grimm she had never seen before. It was feline, and looked to be the size of a rhino. Each footstep caused a thump on the ground as she slowly began to peer over the edge of the trench she landed in. She saw Kiria on the ground, just behind the beast, who seemed to be rubbing it's several foot long saber teeth against its arm to clean the blood off.

"K… Kiria?" She whispered, slowly crawling on all fours until she realized that Kiria was missing her head, in its place a bloodied stump. The massive saber toothed Grimm grabbed Kiria's limp arm by the teeth, dragging her through the dirt as Rao's eyes went wide, the desert heat of Vacuo turning into the coldest chill of her life as she realized that her sister had died in just a second without even a moment to scream. She slowly began to climb out of the ravine, her spear nowhere to be found as it got flung off when she was shoved. She looked down onto the ground, glaring intensely at the pair of gauntlets with massive metal spikes on the end that her sister used as a weapon next to a stain of blood.

Calmly, she picked both of them up, attaching them to her hands as the beast continued to drag off her dead sister. Slowly, her body began to glow with an orange glow so bright that it began to make the night seem almost brighter. "Let go of her…" She said with a sneer. Clenching her fists as she felt a weird tingling in her arms. Looking down at her hands, she realized her arms seemed to be covered in bright orange crystal, almost replacing her hands. She opened and closed her fingers a few times, and despite being crystal, they still seemed to move like her hands. She looked back up at the beast, who began to issue warning growls to Rao. Closing her eyes and shouting as loud as she could, she charged head on at full speed to the saber toothed Grimm, leaping into the air as it launched at her, maw agape with sharp teeth. Rao lifted one of her crystalline arms, catching the teeth into the crystals of her arm with nearly no pain as the teeth then shattered into small parts of bone. The beast growled in pain, landing just past her as Rao landed cleanly on her feet, facing away from the beast as it charged again, not even waiting a moment to get the right posture at Rao's back.

It charged faster and faster, going the speed of a car on the highway with it's mouth of jagged, broken teeth open and aiming straight for the neck. Rao closed her fists, spinning around as the last second and landing a downward blow so hard it caused a shockwave, shattering the entire skull of the Sabertooth, straight into the ground as it was instantly dead. Rao slowly sunk to her knees, the glowing ceased, and her hands returned to normal. "W-what was that…?" She asked, closing her fists as suddenly she felt light headed, taking two steps before landing face first in the brush, passed out.

There was a quiet chirping sound, and a pain in her nose as Rao opened her eyes, a small bird was poking its beak into Rao's nose. Rao groaned in pain, as the little bird hopped up and decided to sit itself in her hair. "Where am I?" She asked, sitting up and scaring the bird off with a flail of her hands. It was the same savannah before the mountain, the stain of blood where her sister passed away was still there, but the body was gone, and so was the Grimm. She looked at her hands, she was still wearing the gauntlets she put on the night before. Putting her hands onto the ground, standing back up and slowly and haggardly stumble her way to the mountain, eventually approaching the base.

Standing at the base, was a bloodied but triumphant Rivus, who saw the young girl standing before him while he was holding the Elder Torch in his hands. "Sorry miss, your dad is being fed to the ravens now." He said, slowly walking up to her, as tears began to slowly well up in her eyes. Eventually, Rivus passed Rao, and spoke almost nonchalantly to her as he went back to the village. "I want you and your entire family out of my village by tonight, or I'll order all of you to be stoned to death. Got it? Good." He said, not even looking back to her, Rao just slumped to her legs, hands on the ground as she dug her claws into the ground to cry.


	4. Prologue 4

Prologue 4: Alva

A man with vivid red hair sat at the windowsill of his small apartment overseeing the Vacuo skyline, his frame draped in a black leather jacket, with matching black fingerless gloves with skulls painted on the back of them. His earphones in only one ear as he blasted his favorite tunes as loud as he could as he watched the skyline. Large, distant skyscrapers covered entirely in glass windows, loud parties in the street just a quiet clamor over the sound of cicadas. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his scroll and held it, patiently listening for it to ring, the dull lighting making his cold blue eyes shimmer almost silver.

"C'mon C'mon C'mon…" He muttered to himself, when suddenly his scroll flashed with the vibration function, since it was muted. "Yes!" He said, pushing the scroll open to look at the message. It came from a subject who was only written down as "Hawk." The voice somewhat distorted over the phone. "You know where we're meeting, right?" He said to the redhead. "Yeah, I know… The intersection between Hunt Ave. and Clyde." He responded. "Good, Lazarus. If you've spoken to anyone except me before you show up, you're off the job. Got it?" The voice replied, before Lazarus could speak, the call ended.

Lazarus shut the scroll, getting off his windowsill and grabbing a skull faced bandana he shoplifted earlier that week. After putting it on his face and making sure he could breathe properly through it, he grabbed his belt, wrapping it around his jeans to strap a large revolver on his hip. He walked up to the mirror, pulling out a gun and pointing it at the mirror. "Hands up, cuz I'm death and I'm comin' to get you…" He growled out in a whisper, before clearing his throat and sighing. "Too obvious." He complained quietly. "I hope you kissed your family before you went to die today…" He said again in his threatening voice, pausing a bit and shaking his head.

He hid the gun behind his back. "Hey, guess what I have…" He said ominously, before pulling the gun out and striking a pose. "It's called a gun!" He paused, before sighing. "I give up, I'll just wing it." He said, spinning the revolver and trying to holster it, before accidentally dropping it on the ground. He growled in annoyance, reaching down and putting the gun away, matching the pistol on the other side of the holster. Running out of the window with a massive leap, launching gracefully on the roof of the building across the way, breaking into a run with leaps to each building as he showed up at the meeting spot, where two men and a girl stood together, waiting patiently in suits, ties and masks.

"You made it in decent time." The skinnier, shorter man said to Lazarus, who stood rather tall compared to the others. "Yeah, I wouldn't miss this for the world." He replied, the man softly gesturing them to climb into the car with the others, Lazarus getting into the back seat as all four of them closed the doors. The engine roared into life, as Lazarus put his belt on with a click. "From this point onward, we only refer to ourselves by code names. I refuse to get in trouble because the new guy feels like calling me by name." The man sitting in the passenger seat spoke back to the two people behind him. Lazarus glanced to his right, watching the face of the man in the mask calmly opening a briefcase on his lap and sorting the tools, before putting them back into the little compartments. The occasional street lamp illuminating his oddly red set of eyes, which were intimidatingly sharp in their gaze.

Lazarus slowly adjusted the tightness on his belt, leaning back a little bit as the commander of the operation began to spoke. "I'll be Shark, my partner is Hawk, and the escape driver is Bear. I guess you'll be Bat." He said, glancing back at him. Lazarus just looking up at him confused. "So… What do you have in mind for my first job with you guys?" He asked, the older man driving the car began to speak with a rather gruff voice that made him sound like he smoked often. "Ya ever seen those big time magicians on TV?" He proposed. Lazarus calmly nodding. "Well, what they always do is distract you from a big trick, by making you force your eyes on something obvious they're doing, and taking your attention away from the thing they're really doing." He continued, braking for a turn around a sharp corner, making sure not to graze the car on the curb.

"We're gonna hit up the Vacuo National Bank… But we're gonna do it our style." Shark replied, looking back with a smirk on the outline of his balaclava. "You're going to be holding up the front office. Be as loud, awkward and grandiose as possible. Almost like a kid from high school wants to rob the teller for a new bicycle. Make as much attention as you possibly can, while the rest of Royal Bones will sneak through the back, crack the safe and bring the car around the front. Once the alarms are on and the police are called, drop your cash and bolt to the front. It'll make our job easier the less people notice what we're doing." He explained.

Lazarus nodded with a little smile on his face. "We gotta make it so they see this car as little as possible." Bear spoke, turning the car into an alleyway, turning off the engine and hitting the button to lock the doors once the other three got out. "I'll sit here. It's about a 2 block walk to the bank, and that alarm is probably loud enough for me to hear it, but do the three of you have your radios?" He asked, leaning out of the window a bit as Shark walked to the back, popping the trunk and pulling out two assault rifles, tossing the other to Hawk as Lazarus put his hands on his waist, watching as Hawk hooked the rifle to the trap on his back, along with his briefcase with safecracking supplies. The three of them flashing their radios real quick. "If this takes more than 25 minutes; I'm going to bail. So call before midnight, got it?" Bear said, before leaning back into the car, hitting the lever on his seat and laying down so no one could see his silhouette.

"Remember, Bat… Don't screw this up." Shark said, before gesturing for Hawk to follow him, hopping up to the fire exit of the apartment complex they were parked next to to traverse via the roof. Lazarus watched the two of them disappear, before he reached down to grab the twin revolvers from his waist and tuck them into his leather jacket to hide them. He tucked his hands into his pockets, softly tugging the bandana around his neck to show his face. The Vacuo bank was a massive building, nearly half a block in width, carved entirely out of marble with old looking pillars holding up the front courtyard.

He slowly began to ascend the staircase, each step making the air on the back of his neck colder, his heart pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. It all stopped when he pushed the door open, walking pack a security guard watching out into the street as he gently began to hug the wall, slowly padding his way to a corner he could put his mask on, tuck his hand into his jacket and grip on one of his pistols. He slowly walked past the velvet roped line, before walking up to the front counter where several tellers quietly giving money, signing checks and paying out Lien to the customers of the bank. He slowly grabbed the bandanna, covering the bottom of his face again as he approached the counter closest to him.

"Sir, if you wish to use our services, please go back in li-" She was suddenly cut off with gasping as Lazarus pulled out both of his pistols, one pointing straight in her face, the other firing once into the air, the bullet hitting a light bulb and breaking it, making the glass rain down onto the crowd as they went into a panic. The girl started to back away, until Lazarus dove over the counter, grabbing her by the neck of her blouse and tugging her to him, walking behind her and pointing his silver revolver at her temple. "Nothing's gonna happen if you listen instead of scream, got it?" He blurted out without thinking, the girl trying to wrench away from him as the crowd began to try and run out of the building, before he pointed a gun to the crowd and fired another shot, hitting the door. "And all of you need to lay on your stomach and pretend this didn't happen!" He shouted over all of them.

"W-w… Don't hurt me!" The woman pleaded, Lazarus just keeping his firm grip on her shirt. "The Lien… all of it." He demanded, pushing his finger on the trigger as she began to shiver. She slowly reached down, opening the drawer with a key and pulling it open, grabbing a canvas bag and dropping the money into it, Lazarus would estimate it to be about 10 grand, though that was just a guess. "See how easy that was?" He said with a smile, before grabbing the back of her head and smashing it into the counter, knocking her out instantly.

He spun, looking at the male teller now cowering on his knees as he walked up, bag slung over his shoulder "Now it's your turn…" He growled, when suddenly there was a shimmer in the corner of his eye. Crouched on the desk was a young man, with green eyes and his face framed with messy black hair just past his chin. He was clad in a black leather top and a long pair of purple pants adorned with belts. He had a smirk on his face as Lazarus looked at him with narrowed eyes. The seemingly younger man casually waved his hand.

"And what are yo-" He was immediately cut off when the shorter guy dove off the counter, snapping a kick on the side of his head hard enough to knock Lazarus onto the floor. "...Hi." He said, nonchalantly. Lazarus hopped back onto his feet from his shoulders, standing up with a sneer on his face. "I don't know if you're brave, or stupid, but I'm gonna kill you before I have to think about it!" He shouted, firing two shots at the teen as he ducked the first shot, dashing behind him and quickly rolling. Leaping into the air and trying to hit him with a leaping knee. Lazarus smacked his pistol into the side of his leg, knocking him off balance before he could correct himself into landing on his hands and knees.

"Look, if there's anybody you have a problem with… why not make it me?" The man said, dusting off his clothes as he glared at Lazarus. "Forget these people and run home before you get shot." The shorter man threatened, as the teller slowly reached over to hit the alarm. Loud klaxons could be heard echoing across the room as the customer's laid on their stomachs. "And who the hell are you supposed to be? You look like you got kicked out of a high school punk band." Lazarus said, pointing both pistols at the unarmed intervener as he slowly lowered his stance.

"Call me Silas." He said simply, before dodging another shot from Lazarus and landing a quick series of blows to his chest and stomach, making him stumble back before Lazarus lifted a knee, smashing it into the jaw of Silas hard enough to send him flying backward in the air. Landing by grabbing the shoulders of a bank teller, before patting him on the shoulder. "Just run over there, I'll distract him." He said quietly to the employee, who took his advice as Silas held his hands out in front of him, ready to strike. Lazarus spun his pistol, tucking it into his holster as he spun on a heel with the squeak of his boots, slamming a backfist at Silas, who caught it with one hand, slid underneath and wrenched behind him with an arm lock. Tripping him with a leg sweep, and sending him onto his stomach, Silas then planted a knee into his back to pin him to the floor. "Now just sit here and we can wait for the c-" He was cut off, when Lazarus pointed his free hand up, pointing the pistol at his face. "SONUVA-" he shouted, leaping back onto his shoulders as the revolver bullet smashed one of the windows across the room.

Lazarus flipped forward back onto his feet, running up and stomping both feet onto Silas' chest before he could get back up, making the younger man gasp for air. 'This is getting dangerous… I need to leave but I have to stay until I get the signal from Hawk…' Lazarus thought to himself, as he shot at Silas while pinning his chest down, who quickly punched him in the wrist, making the bullet hit the floor an inch from his head, cutting a cheek and drawing some blood as he slid out from under him by grabbing his leg and tripping him again. "You can't beat me." Silas taunted, though it seemed like his hands were shaking. Lazarus could tell he was probably trying to bluff him.

"Stop making this hard, it'll be your fault if one of these shots kill anybody." Lazarus replied, as Silas slowly faded away again, disappearing from view. "How the..?" The robber muttered, looking around the room until he saw a nearby door behind him into the back of the bank get opened by itself. "There!" He shouted, running through the same door and looking at the hall way he entered. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind him as Silas appeared from thin air, leaping up and planting a knee into the back of his head, sending both of them crashing to the linoleum floor.

"Damn you!" He shouted, rubbing the back of his neck and standing up, looking around for his opponent only to find him yet again missing, when suddenly Silas grabbed his belt, undoing it and yanking it off of him. "W-what!?" Lazarus shouted. Silas stole the gun on the holdster of the belt, before throwing the belt back at him, hitting Lazarus on his head with his own belt buckle, now holding the second revolver and pointing it at his head. "Oeil pour oeil…" Silas muttered, pulling the hammer back on the gun. Pulling the trigger and taking the shot, when suddenly there was smoke where Lazarus was kneeling. "Don't tell me he has a Semblance too…" Silas complained, when the smoke reformed and Lazarus was standing yet again behind Silas. "Eat floor." He muttered, before kicking the back of his head and smashing him face first into the ground hard enough his head bounced off the floor.

Silas groaned, grabbing onto his face in pain as his purple aura began to flicker. "D-damn it…" He said between gasps, when suddenly Lazarus took another shot, his Aura shattering, but absorbing the blow as he rolled onto his back with a panicked look in his eyes. "You were trying to play cool, but you're just a dumbass like I figured…" Lazarus growled, when Silas kicked his hand, sending the gun flying into an open door into another room. "Hey!" He shouted, looking away from Silas for a brief second as he pointed the gun. "Can a dumbass do this!?" He shouted, firing five shots into the chest of Lazarus, his red aura starting to flicker as well when he dashed into the other room to find the gun Silas kicked away.

Lazarus dashed into the room, looking left and right to find the gun he kicked away. "That thing has my fingerprints on it… Damn kid. Why did I buy fingerless gloves!?" He shouted at nobody, as Silas quietly stumbled into the room, his breaths ragged as he climbed onto another table, kneeling down and holding the revolver at the confused robber. "Hands up, now." Silas threatened. "I used the last of my semblance to make it so you won't be finding that gun. So advantage? Me." He said with a tired smile on his face. Lazarus leered at him, grabbing his bandanna and tossing it off to reveal his hateful glare. Stomping each step toward Silas as his hands began to tremble. "D-do you want to get shot by your own gun, huh!? I'll shoot! Stop moving!" He shouted out, until Lazarus grabbed the gun, stuffing it into his own temple.

"Why aren't you shooting, huh!? WHY AREN'T YOU SHOOTING ME NOW? YOU CAN'T MISS ME! SO SHOOT ME YOU BITCH!" He screamed at the teen holding the pistol to his head. "W-wha!?" Silas muttered, before Lazarus grabbed his wrist, twisting it so hard he felt it snap out of socket. "You can't fire… You've used 6 shots, and I have the rest of the bullets…" He quickly headbutted Silas, knocking him out as he held onto his hand, dragging the limp body off of the table. "Dumbass…"

Silas shook his head, softly sitting up as he rubbed the blood leaking from his mouth. "No, you're the dumbass… I don't need to beat you, I just needed to hold you off long enough that help arrives…" He said, as the sound of sirens began to approach closer and closer. "And hey, I pulled it off." Silas continued with a smirk, spitting some blood onto the ground. "Grr…." Lazarus grit his teeth, running up to Silas and cracking him the side of the head with a running knee, knocking him out completely cold. "Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!" He shouted, grabbing his Scroll and opening it to call Hawk. After a few seconds, the phone hung up. "I need to get out of here…" He said, putting the scroll away, reloading his pistol and making a run for it.

He didn't know the layout of the bank, so he was kicking his way through doors, knocking over employees until he found the back exit, which was currently open. "They made it out, YES!" He said with a smile on his face, running through the door with a tackle of his shoulder. Sitting at the exit was the black car that Bear was driving in earlier, and Hawk and Shark were standing their with huge duffel bags over their shoulder. "Good." Hawk said with a smile behind his balaclava. Lazarus smiled, nearly limping to the car when Hawk began to speak again.

"You know what's the best part about new blood, Lazarus…?" He asked, stopping Lazarus as his hand was on the car door. Suddenly, a loud bang and a sharp pain to the back of his leg made him drop to his knees. Hawk then reloaded his pistol, firing a few shots into his legs, and one into his side. "They make the best scapegoats… Later, kid. Maybe next time you'll wise up before you try joining up with professionals like us." He said, Lazarus gasped in pain as the two got into the car, it speeding off into the night as the police pulled up behind the building, Lazarus bleeding from the three shots in his legs and one in his ribs, making it hard to breathe. 

"VCPD, hands in the sky!" A female officer shouted, getting out of her car with her pistol pointing at the downed young man. He gasped, raising both his hands to reveal they were both covered in his own blood. She quietly grabbed the radio and spoke into it. "Delta, we're gonna need an EMT, Stat." She spoke, as Lazarus passed out on the cold pavement in the night.


	5. Chapter 1: Star Of The Sand

Chapter 1: The Star Of The Sand

Silas was sitting in a dark room, only lit by a hot lightbulb on his face as a woman with curly grey hair and dark skin looked at him, her hands resting on the table. As she spoke to him. "And… You're sure that's what happened?" She asked him, he nodded a little, grabbing a glass of water and taking a sip from it. "I wouldn't know who would have shot him, but.. His aura blocked most of my attacks when I fought him, and I don't remember anything after I was knocked out." He explained, she nodded a little bit. "I just want to remind you that your testimony might be used at a later date, so keep an eye for a court summons showing up in your mail." She said, Silas nodding just a bit as he climbed out of his seat and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"So… If you were coming here to become a Huntsman… Why did not not have your weapon with you when you tried to stop Mr Alva from robbing the bank?" She asked, Silas blinked for a couple of seconds, looking confused. "Uhm, miss… It's _a bank._ Why would I ever bring weapons to a bank!?" He asked, somewhat perplexed, the officer blinked, pausing for a second. "Yeah, you've got a point, but still… This is your first week in Vacuo, can you perhaps not try to put so many people in danger if you want to become a huntsman at Shade Academy?" She warned, Silas sighing, grabbing the water and finishing it off with an uncomfortably long delay to his answer. "That's fair…" He said, before turning to the door, putting his hands in his pockets and walking outside of the room and through the police station.

He looked over to the front desk, which sitting behind the woman in the front was the Shade Academy symbol of 3 crossed swords. "Wait, the police station is ran by the Academy…?" He thought quietly to himself. Back in Atlas, the police was owned by the government, so the concept that the huntsmen and the headmistress facilitate the police department was strange to him.

Standing at the door to the waiting room was a familiar face, his sister. She was clad in her huntsman gear, a saber hanging off her belt in a scabbard matching her outfit. A long red jacket with a ruffled white chiffon scarf wrapped around her neck, along with a skirt draping over half of her legs, with long high heel boots. The outfit amused Silas, it made her look like a pirate. Her arms were crossed just under her chest, her long sandy blonde hair framing her green eyes, and annoyed face. "So… Any other plans in making me late for my first day at Shade?" She asked, Silas frowning slightly at that question. "As long as there aren't any more bank robberies, I think we'll be fine." He replied, gently dusting himself off as they walked through the front door.

Silas and Nia were hit with the blast of heat going from the air conditioned police office, to the sun soaked air outside, the heat making the air dance in the distance as they watched some of the cars drive by with a gust of wind. The siblings began to slowly walk together down the street, Silas with his hands in his pockets as they began to walk to Shade Academy. "Y'know, Vacuo's way more advanced than I thought." Silas commented, looking up at the glass covered skyscrapers far in the distance in the heart of the city. Nia stretched her arms a bit, as they approached a crosswalk, stopping at the edge for the light to change. "I heard once the SDC finally decided to open up shop, they decided to invest and renovate the city to be more 'modern.' The problem with that is the properties they bought belonged to the people, and they were promptly kicked out." She explained, the crosswalk turning green and allowing the two to cross the road.

"About 2 years ago, back when I was here the first time, there were none of those buildings." She added, Silas blinking a few times to process that. "So wait, all those skyscrapers are brand new? Wow." He replied flatly, turning to the side to allow someone to walk past him without stopping. "Not to bore you, but since the government around here is more just a formality, building regulations are surprisingly lax. Mr. Schnee can do whatever he wants around here, it's a rich man's playground." She explained, Silas nodding as they walked to the front gate of Shade Academy, which was so massive it took up its own block. A multi-tiered building pure white with marble, a huge fountain standing at the middle of the walkway to the campus' front entrance. Many students with backpacks, weapons and more were walking their way to the front where the digital banner displayed over the door said 'Welcome, Students! Enroll to be a Shade Academy student today!"

The brother and sister duo both stood there with awestruck looks on their somewhat similar faces. Nia's eyes were shining as Silas began to spoke. "That's… Really big." He said, he had seen some big colleges, and even the exterior of the Schnee mansion but the sheer enormity of the building complex staggered him. "It's like I walked into a movie." He said, slowly walking up to the door, where a machine beeped and slid the two grated doors open, allowing them to walk down the access road and past the parking lot onto the campus itself. A long series of stairs slowly winding side to side with a handrail went from the parking lot all the way to the stone cobbles leading to the center fountain. Hundreds of students were walking around, waiting for the doors to open for the initiate's seminar.

Silas and Nia quietly walked to the fountain, one of the few instances of running water on display instead of having a practical purpose. Suddenly, the bell began to ring through the air, the potential students running past the fountain and to the front door since they got no warnings about running on the premises. Bodies rushed by Silas as he quickly lost track of where his sister was, people bumping into him and sending him pressed up flush against the wall of the fountain. "Hmm…" He thought aloud, before hopping onto the rim of the fountain, running along it with both his hands out, balancing skillfully.

That was until he accidentally kicked someone's backpack, normally backpacks were just filled with papers, but since it was a huntsman academy, it was much heavier, much more… metal. He felt a sudden shock of pain run through his foot, making him stumble and land face first into the water of the fountain with a loud splash. "C-c'mon!" He shouted, getting back onto his knees and shaking his head to get the water off of him before it would go into his ears, along with spraying some more water out of his mouth, who knows if a flock of birds decided to take a bath in it before he got there.

"Damn it! Who in the hell would put their bag in such a STUPI-" He cut off, when he saw the size of the hand that grabbed onto the bag, pulling it and slinging it over a broad shoulder. The man stood head and shoulders taller than every other student at the academy, with a huge mane of blue hair going off his head, and somewhere past his shoulders in a wild ponytail, his golden eyes glaring down at Silas like he could set him on fire with his mind if he wanted. Silas felt like he shrunk, he put a hand on the fountain before laughing awkwardly. "Stu..pend...ous… spot? Uhh.. Don't hurt me, big guy." He pleaded, hands up to his chest and shaking a little bit, partially from the water being cold.

"You really should be more careful." The barrel chested man spoke in a deep voice, before reaching out a hand for Silas to grab, an action which confused the lithe teen. "Y-yeah." Silas stammered out, grabbing the hand of the big man, who easily yanked him out of the fountain with one tug, making Silas stumble as he caught his balance again. "Sorry bout that." SIlas apologized, looking around to see most of the students have passed him and are most likely in the main concert hall. "It's fine, but aren't you looking for the academy across town?" The large man said, crossing his arms and tilting his head slightly. Silas laughed awkwardly. "Across town…?" SIlas trailed off, wondering what he meant.

"This is Shade Academy, this is where you go to learn how to fight Grimm. The middle school is across town, near the shopping center." This made Silas pause, before becoming completely bewildered in his own mind. "M-middle… School…" Silas quietly said, eyes glazed over. "Middle school!?" He shouted in a sudden burst of temper that made the big man take a step back. "I AM NOT A MIDDLE SCHOOL!" He screamed at him, though the blue haired behemoth took a second to think. "...A middle schooler?" He corrected, before Silas grit his teeth. "SHADDUP!" He said, his arms flailing comically.

Before he could embarrass himself further, he calmed down. Taking a deep breath and blowing some of his chin length black hair out of his face. "I got enrolled to academy early… I'm training to become a huntsman like my sister." Silas explained, though his voice still seemed rather… annoyed sounding. The big man suddenly started to chuckle, rubbing his large hand on Silas' head to mess up his hair. "Wow, they'll let anyone in here these days to become a huntsman! I'm proud of ya." He replied, Silas blinking as he wasn't sure if that was an insult or not.

"I'm joining because last year, my baby sis joined up and I thought it's about time I show up and come take out some Grimm too." He said with a big grin. "They call me Marduk Perses, I won a few brawls in the Mistral hand to hand combat tournaments." He said, grinning and pointing a thumb to himself. SIlas began to wring his clothes a bit as he climbed out of the fountain. "Cool, I guess. I'm Silas, I stopped a bank robbery yesterday." Silas replied, acting casual about it. "Oh yeah, I heard that on the news this morning. You were found out cold, weren't you?" He mentioned, Silas gritting his teeth again and turning away from him so he could march up the stairs.

"I TOTALLY stopped that bank robber, it's the truth!" He shouted. Marduk shrugged, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder, his slow heavy steps ascending the stairs just after Silas' fussy march. Eventually they both got into the concert hall. It was adorned with golden curtains on the walls. The dark colored wood was shined to a polish so shiny you could see your own reflection in them if you squinted. The students were taking their seats in front of the main stage, where a projector nearly 20 feet across sat that had a camera feed of the center, where a spotlight and a microphone stand were set. Silas still couldn't find his sister, squinting a bit to find faces in the crowd, he usually could tell where he was by her bright colored ponytail.

He walked up the bleachers, hopping every other stair to make it go a little faster, before having the authentic movie row experience. "Excuse me.. Excuse me… comin' through." He said, delicately tiptoeing the heels of his leather shoes between students to find a place to spot where he wouldn't crane his neck looking at the display. Eventually, he found a place to sit amidst strangers. There was a lot of downsides to him not being all that tall, but he wasn't bumping into anybody next to his seat, so he was happy about that. The lights dimmed, and the spotlight slowly moved to the stairs leading up to the stage. A woman in a golden, shimmering dress quietly began to walk into the spotlight, her ruby colored slippers sparkling a bit as she walked in front of the microphone. From what he could see in the display, a coffee skinned woman in her 40's stood alone on the stage, her face framed with blonde hair tied into two pigtails on each side of her head. Her face was framed with a square set of glasses.

"Greetings, potential new defenders of Remnant. I am Headmistress Dorothy, the current chairman of Shade Academy." She said with a cool smile on her face to match her relaxed demeanor. "It would be safe to say this is probably going to be one of the largest assemblies any of you will be part of as long as you'll be staying here with me, but that little face has a much more depressing truth behind it." She said, hands gently grasping the microphone stand, Silas noticed she had a wedding ring on one of her fingers. "A lot of you will not make it to the end of these next 4 years. As defenders of the people, we expect the absolute best out of you, and some of you will just not be able to handle that kind of pressure on a day to day basis."

Slowly, Dorothy placed both her hands behind her back, looking over the group of new students. "Honestly, deep down inside my heart I wished we never had to train our best and brightest to become soldiers. But we have high standards, and if you don't make the cut we will either temper you into warrior material, or give you your notice that this may not be for you." She continued, before slowly raising her hand to point at the large screen, showing a diagram. "For those who have completed the supplementary Umbra Academy classes, the preliminary exam will be not necessary. Please proceed forward to the first initial exam." She finished, looking to her curly haired assistant, quietly doodling on a clipboard. "Todd?" She turned to him with a smile.

He nodded, running backstage to turn the lights back on to the concert hall. The students began to chatter as a pair of double doors opened that went to the gymnasium and battle arena. Silas glanced for his older sister, spotting her somewhere on the bottom row. He lept rather gracefully off the bleachers to the bottom, dusting himself off as he took a few large strides to his sister. "Hey, doesn't that mean you don't have to take the exam they have set up?" He asked, which Nia quietly nodded in response. The people began to walk past both of them, as Nia tucked her hands into her pockets, the two of them slowly entering the much larger than anticipated gymnasium, the whole thing looking larger than a soccer field in length, and nearly 6 stories high. It had speakers, a jumbotron, and several holographic displays. The assistant hit a button, and hundreds of red lasers crossed the gymnasium, before a hallway suddenly folded from the floor, sitting in front of the large group of students.

"Welp… have fun, Silas!" She said, patting him a few times on both of his shoulders before darting off to sit on the sideline. Silas sighed a bit, before hearing the sudden thump of a spotlight turning on to show a man standing on a scaffolding, hopping off and landing on the ground just in front of the group of students. He was bald, with a braided brown beard, wearing a jumpsuit unzipped to his waist, and a tanktop covering his stupid amount of body hair. "I am Inspector Wolfe, and I'm the general combat instructor for Shade Academy." He said with a serious face.

"This massive room is dedicated to your initiation, you will be placed under a series of tests to determine your capability as a prospect huntsman." He explained, pointing a hand to the massive scoreboard on the back of the room, lighting up with an acronym. "S.T.A.R.S. That is the statistic system that we use with all of our students. It shows your overall general skills, and will dictate your team placement, and your potential of joining the next Vytal festival." He continued, the students being quiet in hopes to not be admonished by the old, yet sturdy man.

"Each rating represents one aspect, each one with 10 stars. Speed, Technique, Aura, Resilience, and Strength. As you complete these tests, I would like to inform you that if your STARS rating is below 18 of our possible 50, you will not be admitted to Shade and must end your dream to be a huntsman here." He stated, this made Silas gulp, despite the smile he had plastered on his face to show a semblance of confidence.

"Each one of you will take a number from this box." He said, slowly walking over to the box in the center of the room. "Then we will run the numbers to show who will go to each test, this will be in random order so the lines won't be too long in the first initial exam. When you are ready to begin, form a single file line and take your number from the box." He said, slowly walking behind as the students lined up single file to take their numbers. Silas was somewhat lucky, standing near the front of the group of nearly 90 remaining students, standing sixth in line. He slowly walked up, sliding his hand into the box until he felt a piece of paper, pulling it out and unfolding.

"28…" He muttered to himself, slowly walking back to his seat beside his older sister while he waited for the first trial to start.


	6. Chapter 2: To The Finish

Chapter 2: To The Finish.

Sitting beside his sister, Silas was on the bleachers with both his arms crossed as he waited for the number 28 to show up. Two numbers would show up at a time, with a subtitle underneath them for the two students to report to each test. Silas didn't have a good enough view of the action for him to figure out what each test entailed, but he didn't mind being surprised. He looked to Nia, who was checking her phone and messaging one of her friends, when he spoke up. "So… What was your STARS rating when you left Umbra?" He asked, Nia glancing up at him. "Why, you nervous you won't be able to make it?" She asked, but Silas just frowned at that from her questioning of his confidence. "No, I was just curious, jeez." He said, his nerves making him much more rude than usual.

"23." She replied shortly, but that thought made Silas uncomfortable. 'She had been training every single day since she was 10, and she's only 5 above their cutoff point? I've only been learning how to fight since Dad left… And I didn't even bother joining the academy." He thought to himself, looking down a bit until the voice over the PA system spoke. "28, 15, please join the entrance of the Agility test within 5 minutes." It said, Silas' attention snapping up to look at the Scoreboard. "Guess you're up." Nia said with a smile, patting him once on his shoulder before he stood up, walking down the stairs and looked around the room. It seemed the agility test was the room with the lasers he saw assemble itself earlier, so he headed to that, where a man in a mask spoke to him. "You 28?" He asked, Silas showing him the unfolded paper to signal that he was correct.

"Great, now we just gotta wait for 15." He said, Silas tucking both hands into his pockets as he began to wait for the person who was also supposed to show up. Eventually, a voice spoke from the corner of his eye. "I think I'm number 15, actually." She spoke, Silas turning to see a woman who stood over 6 feet tall, with a lean muscular build, wild orange hair and a pair of rounded ears poking out of the top. She was clad in a black tank top, and a tight pair of cargo pants cut off at the ankles. On her back was a pair of gauntlets she seemed to carry around with her, her amber colored eyes showing off a slit pupil as she looked down at the shorter Weathersky.

"Are we competing?" Silas asked, his hands on his hips as he looked between the tall Faunus and the test instructor. "Well.. Sort of." He replied, gently pushing a button on the pedestal behind him to open up the hallway. A dance of brightly colored lasers stood within, turning on and off in random patterns. "This is your test of Agility. On STARS, it's the test for speed but that's just a misnomer in my opinion. It's much more about reaction time." He said, before clearing his throat to explain the rules proper.

"This is the dedicated Shade agility test. And the task you must have is simple, you two will race each other down this 150m hallway filled with lasers. Each laser is charged with Lightning dust provided by the SDC, meaning if one touches you, you will be electrocuted with 50,000 volts of electricity." He explained, Silas quietly hiding his hands behind his back. "I really don't like this idea all of a sudden." He said, looking over to the female whose expression didn't seem to change.

"The beams are programmed randomly so there is no pattern, this will test your maneuverability, your reaction time, and your acceleration. The amount of errors will be deducted from your STARS total speed." The instructor continued, pointing up to a red light. "This light will turn green, signaling you to start. At the end of the hallway, there is a button on each side of the door that you must both press to finish the exam. If you finish first, you will get a bonus over your opponent, so feel free to compete." He said, walking over and leaning against the edge of the tunnels.

"So kid, you ready?" The tall Faunus asked, but Silas hesitated to answer. "Well… I think it would be kind of rude to race after you without getting your name first." He mentioned, the girl tilted her head a bit, blinking a few times. "I'm Rao. And who are you, kid?" She replied, Silas casually reached out, holding his hand out to shake it. "I'm Silas, good luck." He said, somewhat flatly, but she did shake hands with him before walking up to the front gate, watching as the LED display on the end of the tunnel was counting down from ten.

"Just promise me you won't cry if you lose, alright?" Rao taunted with a chuckle, Silas sinking into a stance as he got ready to put as much power into his legs as he could, hands at his sides as he looked over to the woman beside him. Once the number got down to three, the lights began to gently flash with a beeping sound, before a klaxon rung and the two prospects bolted into the hallway at full speed. Silas had the slight advantage, running full speed until a laser spontaneously appeared in front of him. He gasped out of surprise, sliding underneath it, both his legs spread to the side with his back arched to narrowly miss it. This split second dodge put him behind Rao. Growling and pushing his hand into the ground, he lept over another beam, scrambling back to his feet as he ran just a millisecond behind her now.

"She's barreling through this… Why doesn't she have to dodge?" Silas thought, despite the fact it felt like he only took two steps since he got back up, time felt like a crawl to him. Suddenly, a flash of orange light caught his eye, every time she hit a laser, it would flash slightly before going back to the beam. "She's breaking them.. Why isn't she getting shocked? Was that a bluff…?" Silas continued to think, hurdling over another beam but not closing her lead. Silas decided to experiment, sliding his hand out to intentionally break one of the lasers. He thought he was in the clear, when all of a sudden, a flash and a stinging feeling went up his entire body.

"D-damn it!" He said, the black room flashing a deep blue for a second as he lost control of his motor functions. Falling to the ground, with steam coming up from his body. He didn't have time to worry about how much damage he took, so he stumbled back up and continued to run, now 15 feet behind the tiger Faunus. But he wasn't moving as fast even after he recovered. He noticed that the aftereffects of that shock made his arms twitch, and was making breathing properly harder. "Calm down, calm down…" Silas muttered to himself, slapping himself in the leg to jolt his reactions back to life.

'There has to be something she's doing to just barrel through the traps like that. That lightning dust is the real stuff… Is it her Semblance? I'll need a closer look.' Silas thought, his stance lowering as he began to use his eyes in the near pitch black room to see if he could figure out what she was doing. 'It looks like I'm faster, she has no running technique compared to my low profile running style.' He mused, tucking a bit deeper into his run until their gap was closed to just two strides apart.

'What would make her immune to shock…?' Silas pondered in his head, noticing the light bouncing off at several angles as she passed. 'She's using her semblance to become a ground, that little…' He growled in frustration. 'I'm not sure the other four tests will require me using Aura… I have to conserve my energy for now.' He sighed, diving over an array of lasers, diving into a quick roll to get slightly ahead of her. His eyes darted up, the black walls arranged in a hexagon shape, the lasers only projecting from two sides. This gave him an idea, so he quickly ran to the side, hopping onto a wall and running along it, above the lasers.

"So you're doing funny business too, huh!?" She shouted out of anger, jumping into the air and grabbing him by his ankle. "S-son of a bi-" He shouted, feeling himself falling into the array of lasers and getting another massive shock to his system. Screaming in pain, before trying to shrug it off, planting both hands in the ground and flipping his body, slamming her into the ground with a bounce. Breaking her semblance as her body turned back from stone to flesh. The tiger Faunus landing in another row of lasers, with her own matching shriek of pain, both landing on the floor together.

"Feels good, doesn't it!?" Silas taunted, getting back onto his hands and knees. Ducking another punch from her as he tucked his arms to his sides, giving himself a small profile as he continued dodging lasers, though he was getting more sluggish as he got closer to the end. Once he got close enough, he could see the end of the hallway. Two buttons on each side of the door, with a display on the top of the door showing the current time at 13 seconds. "That was only 13 seconds!?" He shouted to himself, as Rao suddenly tackled him to the ground with a thud, her landing on top as he slid face first along the ground with a groan of pain.

"Thanks for the ride, kid!" She said with a little chuckle, Silas punched the ground, standing back up and dashing full speed after her. 'That does it… It might backfire later, but I need to score on this!' He decided, getting back onto his feet and running as fast as he could, even though he could feel himself run out of breath on each step, making his movements more and more sluggish. He lept into the air, pushing both feet against the side wall and running along it. 'The beams are only on the bottom half of the chamber, this is perfect for my plan.' He thought, though once gravity started to take over, he lept back down and planted both feet onto Rao's shoulders.

"W-what the!?" Rao shouted, as Silas lept off of her with enough kick to fly through the air and straight into another beam, electrocuting him again as he landed just short of the button, getting on one knee and slamming his fist on the button to stop his timer. "Position one: 14.73 seconds." The female computer voice spoke out, the first time appearing on the monitor before another hand slammed down on the second button. "Second position: 17.19 seconds." It continued, before the lasers shut off, and the two doors in front of them opened. Silas sighed, walking out with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath before he felt someone grab the collar of his shirt. "Hey there, you little cheater." Rao said with an evil grin, baring her pointed teeth. "C-cheater!? I thought it was anything goes…" He replied, gripping her wrist tightly and squeezing until his nails dug in. Her grip was like iron, he couldn't get her hands to let go of his clothes.

"You did pretty well for a mousey little guy, so good job… but remind me to beat your ass later." She said, dropping him onto his butt, making him land with a grunt. "I'm so confused…" Silas replied, gently dusting himself off before looking up at the display. It showed Silas with 7 stars in speed, along with Rao only getting 5. He just quietly pumped his fist a few times before he took three steps, before falling back onto his face. "Damn it…" He said, feeling the energy drain out of his arms from how much energy he could exert in under 20 seconds. Yet, Rao was walking away and back into the crowd gathered in the arena. He slowly stood back up, slumping over to a nearby seat and giving a quiet sigh. "I hope all of them aren't that hard…" He complained, his hand resting underneath his chin, before a soft voice spoke up to him.

"With this many people competing, You'll probably get a bit of a break before they pull your number again." She spoke, her hand offering him an apple. He glanced down at it… It was a fresh apple, the red ones that were imported from Vale. "Want one? I brought two." She asked, Silas looked up from her silk gloved hand, then across her blouse and at her face. Her soft red eyes gazing at him, he thought for a second before responding. Her wild black hair framing her face, and covering one eye. Her teeth were slightly large, her canines poking out of her mouth slightly.

"Uhh… you sure? I mean, I don't want to take your food just because I'm tired." He explained, she nodded, lifting the apple slightly closer. "I just like to help out, so here." She countered, Silas slowly gripping the apple in his hand and reaching up to take a bite out of it. It was as good as if he took it out of a fruit cart and bit into it. "Well… Thank you." He said, slightly nervous still from the adrenaline. The announcer called over the speakers just a few moments later. "59 and 21, please report to the instructors within the next 3 minutes." He spoke, the girl beside him looking down at the ticket she was holding in her hand. "Oh! That's me. Wish me luck, alright?" She said, hopping off of the bleachers and walking with a hand on her hip. Silas went back to eating his newly acquired apple, when the thing he didn't want to hear occurred.

"Number 28, please report to the endurance challenge." The PA announced, Silas nearly choking on his apple as he launched up back to his feet in frustration. "Really? Really!?" He complained, before kicking the ground and walking back down the stairs to face this next challenge he'll have to face.


	7. Chapter 3: Interview

Chapter 3: Interview

Lazarus stood at the door of a dark room, his leg still aching from the pain of what happened just a week ago. Not able to put weight on his bandaged leg, he was propped up onto two set of crutches. Looking up at the door, before noticing a light turning green. "Mr. Alva, please report to the interrogation room." A gruff male voice spoke over the speaker, he slowly hobbled to the door, grabbing the handle and pushing it open, which made him nearly stumble thanks to only having one leg to stand on.

Sitting at the center table was an older woman with silver hair, dressed in a blue and black uniform. Her gloved hands crossed over her mouth as her hawkish yellow eyes glared up at the tall man still in his hospital gown. "Please, take a seat." She spoke, her voice calm but commanding. Lazarus paused, slowly limping his way over to the chair, trying to sit down without dropping his crutches, before stumbling back into his chair and almost falling off of it before he gripped the table, sliding it slightly so he wouldn't fall down.

"I'm pretty sure you know why we're here, but I would like to discuss your involvement in the robbery last Tuesday at the Vacuo National Bank." She said, slowly reaching over to the side of the table and sliding a plain yellow envelope filled with papers. "This is the first time we've gotten an interview with you since that night, so I feel like we have a lot of ground we'll need to cover before you get to your potential sentencing." She continued, opening the documents and turning to the first page.

"I guess what I would want to ask first would be the fact that all witness accounts claimed that you were by yourself, yet the vault was cracked with a thermite mixture and over 200,000 lien was removed from the vault. I want to discuss the personal information of these accomplices, along with their methodology." She asked, Lazarus just glared at her for a few awkward seconds, not replying.

"You never made it to the safe, a vigilante stopped you from robbing the teller, and you apparently escaped out the fire exit where emergency services found you. Was it always your intention to be the decoy?" She asked, gently tapping her files so they were better sorted after messing with them. Lazarus just scowled, thinking of the night just made him angry how it went down. "Yeah, It was complete intention to get gunned down as soon as I got finished beating up a middle schooler. Is that what you want to hear?" He asked sarcastically, the officer just casually tapping her manicured nails on the card table they were sitting at.

"I know what you're doing, Mr. Alva… I see it on TV all the time. You want to say nothing incriminating so you can get a lawyer to defend your case, but I can tell that must mean you're not from around here." She said, which made Lazarus' eyebrows furrow slightly. "Public attorney are more something Vale would do. The government is just a representing body, actual law, detainment and order is up to the Academy and its Huntsmen. The only attorney you could get would have to be something you can afford." She explained, which caught him off guard.

"You know, that's actually kind of messed up." He complained, but she just shrugged. "I don't make the rules, life's unfair. So why not just help us out and we'll try and make your punishment something that isn't awful, is that alright?" She asked, but Lazarus leaned forward on his seat, elbows up on the table. "...Are you trying to get me to confess?" He asked, but she just briefly chuckled in response. "What's there to confess? You took your mask off ON camera. You would have to be kind of stupid to say 'Hey, that wasn't me!" She continued, taunting him some. He growled, slamming both hands on the table and standing up with the rattling of his chain harness.

"Is kicking me while I'm down part of the law too? Because I'm not gonna say a damned thing if you think giving me crap is going to make me warm up to you!?" He shouted, but she just stood up, slamming him back down into his seat with enough force he nearly lost his balance. "Look… You're in dire straights and I'm the only person in all of the world capable of saving your ass from being locked up in a cell with the worst damn criminals in Remnant. So please, entertain me a little." She growled, her eyes sharply staring at his as his anger subsided.

"What do you want me to say?" Lazarus replied, before she cleared her throat and began to write in the file. "Judging by your anger, you joined this group of anonymous criminals with no prior knowledge that they intended you to be a scapegoat. Perhaps this was your first job with them and you thought running interference would mean you would be trustworthy enough to join this group?" She explained, leaning forward in her chair as Lazarus looked off to the side, taking a moment to think instead of scowling like he was previously.

"...Yes. I was dealing with a contact prior to meeting them, but the night of the robbery was the first 'job' they allowed me to have." He confessed, which made her eyes dart up from her book to look at him. "This sounds similar to something that happened about 5 months ago." She said, slowly getting from her chair, walking to a one way mirror and speaking through the intercom. "Ramirez, please get me case file #13341. I want to cross reference something." She finished, a silence coming from the other side as she returned to her seat.

A man with a nice mustache entered the room, setting another folder in front of her with a label listed with the number '13341.' She opened the file, showing pictures and evidence. 'Five months ago we had a similar circumstance of a young person being recruited into doing a job, before being betrayed so the rest of the group can run off with the wolf's share of the goods. We haven't found the contraband either time, though the first one was a jewelry store." She continued, Lazarus reached up to try and grab a document, before the back of his hand getting slapped by the officer.

"The trial isn't finished until we find more evidence, so refrain from touching any of these files." She demanded, he sighed, leaning back and keeping his hands off of the table. "The criminal we apprehended was sent to the hospital with a moderate head contusion, like was struck upside the head with a lead pipe." She muttered, looking over the papers some more. "There were three of people implicated outside of the one we detained. Three men all wearing masks, making absolutely sure there were no fingerprints, each one having a name associated with them as an alias." She explained.

"Hawk, Shark, and Bear." He finished for her. She responded with a wry smirk in response. "This just got a little bit more interesting." She said, gently sitting the papers back onto the table and looking over at him. "This gives me an opportunity to track these guys down before they decide to move on to something even more dangerous; like a combat mech, or hundreds of pounds of Dust… or my morning coffee." She finished with a joke, but Lazarus was taken aback by it. "...Was that humor I heard out of you? Wow, the world must be ending." He joked back at her, before she returned back to her usual stoic nature.

"Vacuo has a rather unique set up for one of the four kingdoms. The law and order department is actually funded and recruits directly from Shade Academy. The military and governing body is autonomous from how we function. This means that hunters can train to become officers instead of Grimm hunter." She said, sliding her cup of coffee over to take a sip of it before continuing. "Hunters operate as sort of a country backed mercenary, as long as it's over the table you can operate autonomously from the typical laws of the country you're in because we have your back, everything is on the table outside of murder and theft, and we can use that to finally operate out of jurisdiction of Vacuo if we had a huntsman who just happened to be wrapped around our finger…" She explained, her hand stroking her chin as Lazarus just shrugged from her spiel.

"And what does that have to do with me?" He wondered. "Instead of sending you to a hole made of sandstone and tears, we enroll you into Shade Academy as a huntsman under our control." She stated , Lazarus standing up and leaning onto the table. "You're gonna give me a huntsman license? What if I just decided Hawk shooting me was totally cool, and went back to join him as soon as I was done with the dumb Academy? Do you even know if I'm capable of fighting a Grimm?" He questioned her, but she just chuckled. "What's the point of a rabid dog if he isn't on a leash? All you can do on your own is bark and whine. You'll be placed under constant surveillance, up to and including being under house arrest so you won't be able to leave the dorm unless we have something to do with you." She continued, Lazarus just crossing his arms and scratching his wrist, which was starting to hurt from the chains.

"Anyway, I've saw the tapes… you're not bad. You might have almost lost to a kid but he's in the Academy, and you're better than him." She complimented, Lazarus casually scratching through some of his red hair as she spoke. "You'll be in constant communication with central, and won't be released from this specific house arrest until we can capture the three thieves and learn more about this. Better than spending your 25th birthday in a jail cell, isn't it?" She asked, Lazarus looking at the floor. He never thought being a huntsman was something he wanted to do. It didn't seem like he had a lot of options instead.

"Fine, I'll do it. But what about enrollment? I'm still nursing gunshot wounds." He asked, she gently gestured to him. "You're a shoe in to make it through, so we'll waive the tests. Dorothy owes me a favor or two after something that happened a few years back." She said, before standing Lazarus back up and handing him both of his crutches so he could walk again. "Just call me Alice, or Boss the next time you talk to me, got it?" She demanded, Lazarus looking at the ground as he slowly limped himself out the door of the interrogation room. Another officer approached behind him, wrapping an ankle bracelet around his leg, before undoing his chains and letting him free.

"You have to recharge it once every few days for half an hour, if the battery dies; we'll have to arrest you again, this doesn't count during any missions the head of the school will ask of you." Alice spoke, Lazarus leaning against the wall so he could rub one of his wrists in pain. "We'll have one of my officers drive you back to the Hospital when you're ready to leave, I hope you like hospital food because that's probably all you're going to get until you get to the academy." She joked, before closing the door behind her.

"I hate cops…" Lazarus complained, before the officer guided him outside.


	8. Chapter 4: Fun With Robots

Chapter 4: Fun With Robots

The double doors opened to a pure white chamber, the only details of the room was a grid of lines every single meter, along with a single railway along the top where a woman was standing next to Instructor Wolfe. The woman was clad in a white suit jacket, with cargo pants and hiking boots that didn't seem to match her dapper jacket. Her black hair was in low pigtails down to her shoulders, and clad in thick rimmed glasses. In her hand was a silver briefcase that was covered in strange luminescent orange lines.

Silas stepped through the double doors, his hands in the pockets of his black pants as he curiously looked up at the two people observing him. "Is this the Resilience test?" Silas asked, Instructor Wolfe slowly walked up and placed both of his hands onto the railing, leaning down to look at him. "You've found the right one, I'll let Ms. Perdix explain how this will work." He explained, before gesturing to the younger woman to his side. She hit a button on a remote she was holding, a staircase forming out of light on the side of the railing. She walked down the stairs, before standing a few feet in front of him.

"Thanks to the wonderful people at the SDC," She started, though there was a wince on the last word that SIlas noticed. "I get to test out my new prototype robot as part of the revised endurance test. Trust me, the last one they did kind of sucked." She continued, setting her briefcase on the ground in front of him as she spoke. She then clapped twice, the briefcase whirring as it slowly unfolded into a sight Silas didn't expect. Two hands slammed on the ground as the shoulders, torso and arms formed, the rest becoming the legs as the robot stood up straight.

It was about a foot taller than Silas, its body was made of silvers and white, its body resembling a skeleton. The face was more akin to a motorcycle helmet with an LED display showing a orange simple face with a smile. "This is my prototype combat robot ViBe. Say hello, ViBe." She said, the robot smoothly moving to wave at him almost like it was a person in a robot suit, its synthesized voice speaking in a friendly, if upper class tone. "Hello there." It spoke, Silas gently waving back at him.

"This robot has been programmed with 10 skill levels of hand to hand combat pre baked into its programming, along with a sensor for simulated aura for each skill level, meaning it can perfectly replicate a fight. Each time a certain amount of time passes, the skill of ViBe will increase and you will be granted another star for enduring." She continued, walking up behind the robot and hitting buttons faster than Silas could keep track of.

"Engaging hand to hand mode." Vibe spoke, glowing blue holograms forming around each limb and its torso covered now with a white mixture of rubber and plastic. "This is so you don't break your hands from punching it too hard." She made an aside, as ViBe leaned forward, the interface for its eyes focusing on Silas. "Opponent for sparring found. Target; Prepubescent girl. 5'4, slender build, black hair."It began its analysis.  
SIlas' eyes widening a bit. "Why does it think I'm a girl? Did you program it to taunt!?" He complained to Phoebe, Phoebe tried to stifle a small chuckle. "It's a prototype, kid. I'll calibrate its sensors later. To be fair, you would probably make a pretty girl if you tried hard enough." She gestured, Silas frowning harder than he's ever frowned in his life. "Wow, I hate both of you already." He half joked, before Phoebe began to walk back up the stairs to the observation booth.

"Good luck! Don't die!" She cheered, the bridge disappearing as a timer appeared on the wall showing the current time, counting up by the second. "Alright, ViBe… Let's get this over with." He said, gently cracking his neck as he stared down the robot. The robot's interface turning red from the typical orange as it spoke. "Level one, Drunken Bar Patron." It announced, his stance sinking lower and slowly swaying side to side, almost like it wasn't capable of balancing.

"Windmill attack." It spoke in a monotone, wildly flailing both its arms in fists in front of it and charging straight toward Silas. Silas blinked a couple of times, slowly leaning back and planting a boot into the robot's chest before shoving it, knocking it down. "Wow. Accurate drunk physics." He chided, his hands tucked into his pockets. Suddenly, it landed on both it's shoulders and hit a backspring, kicking SIlas in the chest hard enough that he fell back, sliding into the wall behind him. "SON OF A-" He complained, getting back onto both of his feet.

He ducked a blind haymaker out of sheer luck, before landing a quick elbow into the sternum of the robot, making it stumble back again. Throwing another haymaker, Silas caught it, twisting its wrist and pulling it closer, before sliding behind its back and checking to see if the joint's maneuverability matched a typical human. The other arm of ViBe flailed wildly, trying to strike Silas as he torqued the wrist even harder.

"Ooooh, testing its limb limitations. Smart." Phoebe said, somewhat impressed. Silas slapping ViBe on the back of it's head a few times, as it finally spun around to throw a roundhouse kick. Silas ducked, letting its leg fly over the arm he left a grip on forcing his arm between his legs, making it struggle to get balanced again. Silas tugged, making it land in front of him with a frontflip. Silas smugly celebrated, wiping off his bottom lip a few times with a smirk on his face.

ViBe rolled back onto its feet, jumping at Silas with a suckerpunch that he wasn't prepared for, making him stumble backward and have to regain his balance. "That actually hits pretty damn hard." He muttered to himself, ViBe taking the opportunity for an absurd looking leaping attack. "And here comes a big Karate chop!" Its robotic voice feigning excitement. Silas intentionally fell onto his back, making it land just in front of him and missing the strike. Before it could strike again, Silas vanished.

"Where did the target go? Switching to infrared vision." ViBe announced, the display turning a green color as it began to look around. Silas panicked at that announcement, crouching down low so he could walk without his footsteps being heard. 'Not good… My semblance does nothing about my body heat.' He thought to himself, trying to always walk behind ViBe's head so he wouldn't be noticed.

'I need the upper hand.' He decided, standing back up and breaking into a full sprint to close the 15 feet gap he made while invisible. "Target Sigh-" ViBe spoke, before its head collided against Silas' flying knee to the side of its face. "Didn't think I'd leave you alone for too long, huh?" Silas boasted, cracking his knuckles and pretending kicking a robot with his knee didn't hurt like hell. ViBe slid along the ground, before hitting a wall in a heap, before a voice called out for the second time.

"Stage 2." ViBe spoke, before getting back onto it's two feet, now getting into a more proper fighting stance. "Professional Wrestler." ViBe announced, flexing both its arms like a cannon. Silas sighed, looking over at the clock to see about a minute had passed since he started. "It must tick up every minute then." He spoke to himself, before ViBe ran up to him, leaping and wrapping it's legs around his neck. "Hurricanrana!" It shouted, flipping back and sending Silas flying into the air. Silas shouted in terror, before smacking back first into the wall upside down.

"G-gah!" He gasped as the air launched out of his lungs, sending him sliding down head first on the wall and hitting the floor. "Basement Dropkick!" ViBe shouted, not hesitating for a second to charge at the upside down Silas, leaping into the air and launching a kick into his chest that cracked the wall he was against. Silas gasped in pain, it felt like his Aura was doing nothing to block any of this, it even felt like one of his ribs just cracked.

"Kid, focus on your breathing! Aura is based on your emotional state, panic will just make it fizzle out. Stay calm and focus." Instructor Wolfe shouted to the teen in his baritone, commanding voice. 'Damn it, he's right…' Silas admitted to himself as ViBe went back to showboating for a crowd that wasn't there. He softly began to cough, before getting his breathing back and sliding up along the wall so he could focus.

"What calms me down?" SIlas spoke between shallow breaths. Though only spending a moment before he was charged again by the robot he was facing off with. It started with a few elbow swings that Silas barely could dodge. Responding by smacking its chest with a few side kicks before backing off to make some more room. It performed another running leap, and Silas fell onto his back to dodge it, springing back up behind him and leaping with enough rotation to land a roundhouse kick to the back of its head. It shifted to the side, before grabbing him by the leg as hard as a vice would.

Silas gasped, trying to pull his leg until he felt his shin start to detach from his knee. Realizing this was a bad idea, he suddenly began trying to push his leg deeper, hopping on his other one as he used his arms to keep himself balanced. Vibe reached down, grabbing him by the hip and pulling him closer. Leaping into the air and sitting both Silas' legs onto its shoulders. "Sky high powerbomb!" It shouted, leaping nearly 15 feet into the air before slamming Silas onto his back hard enough to cause a sickening thud to fill the room. Silas bounced into the air as ViBe let go of him, landing on the floor limp.

"...Are you sure this isn't over-tuned, Phoebe?" Instructor Wolfe asked the young robotics genius. Phoebe stammered, gently twiddling her thumbs. "Uhhh.. Maybe a little bit." She replied, but was interrupted by the sight of Silas slowly getting back onto his feet. "I'm starting to get the hang of this." Silas said, panting. "They're all big attacks, but they're predictable." He mused, looking up at the clock and seeing 20 seconds remaining before the next stage starts. "You hear that, robot!? I'm starting to get used to fighting you, you'll lose soon enough…" He warned, the robot slowly walking up to him, standing a few feet away from him. Silas widened his legs, getting into a stance where he could see what ViBe's next move.

"Heel turn." It spoke simply. Silas got confused by that, not sure what it meant. "W-wha?" He asked, before the robot kicked him right between his legs, causing him a pain that could only be described as 'existential.' The room echoed with the scream of a defeated man, hit in his most tender spot. His knees hit together, trying to trap the robot's leg between his legs. "B-but I'm not losing this o-opportunity…" He claimed, his voice quivering from pain.

"Did your robot just kick him in the d-" Inspector Wolfe started, but Phoebe cut in. "Definitely did!" Phoebe replied, covering her mouth so she wouldn't be laughing at the first student to test out her combat robot. Silas elbowed ViBe in the knee joint, making it struggle as he lifted the leg onto one of his shoulders, tripping it and slamming it onto the floor. Falling ontop, slamming an elbow into its face as the robot beeped. "Stage 3: Martial Artist." It announced, quickly kicking Silas off of it and hand springing back to it's feet as it got into a low, efficient stance.

Silas managed to flip, landing on a knee and snapping his vision up to his opponent. Glancing at the clock, and after such a long time fighting he was finally into the third minute. "Look, Lady." He said, pointing over to Phoebe, currently leaning over the rail to watch the fight. "I don't know if you made this robot to humble me or not. But I'm no joke… I'm beating stage three and you're gonna watch me do it." He said with a determined scowl on his face. The robot running at him at a much faster speed than the last setting.

It threw fast punches and elbows, though Silas' speed managed to match it, even blocking or parrying a couple. Dipping into a street boxing stance, Silas threw a few quick jabs, though ViBe ended up dodging most of them. 'I'm better up close like this than I thought, I have to thank my Aunt for that later.' He said, somewhat lost in thought as his fighting was going too quick for his mind to come up with a strategy. Ducking a spinning high kick so close it almost glanced his hair and tripping him with a quick spinning roundhouse to knock it off balance. Pivoting off a hand, he switched the direction of the kick to his other leg, doing a flying roundhouse to the still falling robot against the side of it's head, sending it spinning to the floor.

.ViBe twisted on it's landing, getting onto one knee and hitting Silas with a surprise uppercut as he tried to make his own landing, making him stumble back until both his shoulders hit the wall behind him, almost hitting his head hard enough to make him see stars. "He's fast…" Silas stammered out, quickly blocking two fast punches to his stomach, but getting caught with two rapid hooks to both sides of his head. Struggling to focus, Silas' aura started to shimmer and fade, making Phoebe and Instructor Wolfe feel uneased by this, wondering if the young man was going to be going down soon.

Silas, now desperate to not fade out too early, shoved ViBe with both of his arms, making it stumble back as he limped forward, arms hung to both sides as he barely maintained his balance trying to catch his breath. Vibe resumed its offense, Silas leaning and swaying to make most of the attacks miss. Landing barely limp punches at the robot, before falling forward and smashing a headbutt into it hard enough that it cracked the screen on ViBe. Though, the expected result of him getting knocked down just didn't happen. Silas collapsed onto his knees, feeling a shock go up his spine as he collapsed to the ground.

A silence fell in the room, the robot standing back up and looking down at Silas, face first on the floor and not moving, his hair a mess and a small pool of blood slowly growing near his forehead. "Stop the fight." Instructor Wolfe demanded, Phoebe hurriedly pulling out a remote from her pocket and pressing the button to disable combat mode, ViBe's posture changing to match as Silas gazed at the clock with glossed over eyes, which stopped at 2:52.335, 8 seconds short of getting level 3 completed before losing consciousness.


	9. Chapter 5: From Afar

Chapter 5: From Afar

Silas came to, slowly rubbing his forehead with his wrist as he heard a ringing in his ears. Every time he turned his head, it felt like he couldn't stop moving even if he stayed still. He slowly sat up, slumping over with his arms to his knees as he took a couple of deep breaths of that awful, sterile scent he's gotten so used to over the last week. 'Damn it, I'm in a hospital again.' Silas thought to himself, but the only words that came out of his mouth was a pained groan.

"Oh, you're up." A relaxed, but scholarly voice spoke up. Silas turned his head to face him, but got hit with another dizzy spell that made him reach for the side of his bed for some support. "W-wha?" Silas said, it felt like his mouth wasn't working and nothing he said would turn into words. His eyes focused on a man quietly sitting on a chair beside the hospital bed, past the privacy curtain that hid the other patients from view.

He had soft brown eyes, hidden behind a pair of rectangle shaped reading glasses, his shaggy brown hair stopping right before his jawline in curls. On Top of his head was actually a pair of canine ears, signifying to the young man that he was a Faunus. Dressed in a dapper, light blue suit and red tie, reading a book while he waited. "So.. what happened?" SIlas asked the man, who gently set his book aside and put it on a nearby table.

"Well, you fought against Ms. Perdix's robot. It turned out a little… too overpowered." He said, looking at the floor for a second since that seemed to be an understatement. "D-did I win?" Silas asked, still spaced out. "You lost, horribly." Todd spoke matter of factly. Silas looked at the floor with a small frown on his face. "Oh." He said in mild disappointment, before he leaned back into his chair. "I have both good news, and bad news." Todd spoke, watching the younger man get his bearings.

"Good news being that Headmistress Dorothy told me that after you get some rest, and get medically cleared you may use the testing facility again to finish the rest of your tests." He said with a little smile, but only got a sheepish nod from Silas in response. "The bad news, is the nature of our scoring system, you won't be able to improve the 2 you got in the last test." He explained, Silas nodding again.

Todd reached up to sip some of his tea. Before looking down Silas as he started rubbing his head, feeling the bandages wrapped around. "So, They're willing to let me go back to testing even though it's probably night by now?" Silas asked, finally able to speak coherent sentences now that the fog was being lifted from his mind. Todd noded. "Thanks to the… circumstances you're under, Dorothy thought it would be best for you to finish the exam." He explained, Silas looking at him curiously.

"Circumstances? What circumstances am I under?" Silas asked, Todd standing up and crossing both of his arms underneath his chest. "You're the son of Leon Weathersky, are you not?" He asked, his canid ears perking up curiously at him. "Yes, and?" Silas asked, leaning onto one of his knees for some support as he started to get himself out of the bed he was in.

"You haven't trained under any registered Huntsman. You never went to Umbra, or Mantle, and you decided to join when you're just 15. When you wrote your sign up sheet, outside of your name and age, you left the entire section about your hopes and goals blank. Why would you be doing this except for one reason? You want to find your father." He explained, which hit a nerve for Silas, but he quickly calmed himself down.

"My father single handedly ruined my life. I don't want to find him because I miss him... I want to kick his teeth in." Silas replied, hopping off of the bed and gently dusting himself off. He was wearing a hospital gown over his clothes, which he thanked himself that he was still wearing. "I know to travel outside of the city on your own, you have to be talented at combat, that's the only reason why I'm here. I know it makes me sound like a jerk, that I don't have some humanitarian cause, that I don't want to protect people or anything idealistic like that…" He said, gently undoing the rope ties on his gown and folding it on one of his forearms, setting it back onto the bed neatly.

"I believe all people have some good in them, just like I believe you have good in yours. What is your goal outside of the whole 'finding your father' thing?" Todd continued to question the young student, Silas crouched down to find his shoes in a small cubby hole on the desk beside the bed, taking them back out so he could slip his sock covered feet back in. "I want to be remembered. Thousands of years from now, most people will be dead and forgotten. I guess I'm afraid that will happen to me. So.. whatever I do, I guess I just want it to matter." Silas said, his eyes drifting off to the side of the room. Todd frowned slightly.

"That's a bit dark." Todd commented, but Silas looked around the room to see if he missed anything. "What does finding out about that have to do with my father?" He asked Todd, but Todd just walked up and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "I just want to affirm to you that this isn't pointless. If you're willing, as long as you stay in this academy we will continue to help you find your father, but I have to warn you first." He spoke sternly, Silas not breaking his gaze from him as he spoke.

"If you try to find your father… You'll most likely end up dead. What he's done, and who he did it for is only for certain ears. If you want to live a normal life, this is probably your last chance to leave this alone." He said, but Silas gently pushed the arm off his shoulder, looking up at him with a glare. "I've grown fine to the idea of dying the moment I decided to look for him. If I die, it's his fault." Silas spoke sternly, getting a reserved nod from Todd.

"I guess I'm asking you these questions because I find you interesting." Todd said with a soft smile on his face, Silas quietly stroking his chin as he walked to the door. "Where's the Arena from here?" Silas asked, brushing off the statement Todd made. "You're still on campus, just make your way back to the main building and you'll be right back where you started." He explained, Silas nodding and gently leaving the room first, Todd going afterward. Silas walked past a few nurses who were giving him strange looks due to having bandages on his head still, along with the armband stating he's a patient.

"Sir, are you sure you're alright to leave yet?" A nurse asked, Silas gently tore off the wristband, crumpling it in his hand. "Yes, I'm fine. I just have something I need to go finish." He explained, hitting the button on an elevator door and waiting for it to open. He walked into it backwards, hitting the button for the ground floor so he could make his way out of the entrance. Walking out the sliding doors as the cool night air hit his skin.

It was still twilight, the glint of the sun could be seen on the horizon, contrasting the fragmented moon sitting in the sky from the opposite end. He tucked his hands into his pockets and slowly walking back to the fountain. There were few students out this late, and none he would recognize, until a familiar voice spoke up behind him. "Hey, Si." Nia spoke, walking up from behind him and gently patting him once on the shoulder. "I heard from management they're keeping the training facility open late juuuust for you. Don'tcha feel special?" She asked, gently reaching her fingers to his cheeks and pulling him into an awkward smile. Silas just spoke as if she wasn't doing that.

"It makes me feel like they pity me." He said flatly, which made his older sister frown. "Oh, you're in one of those dour moods again." She said, gently removing her hands from his face to give him a little space. Silas just took a deep breath, and released a sigh. "Honestly, I just want to get today over with. It feels like I've been here a week already and I'm not even halfway done yet." He explained, Nia just nodding quietly. "Look, I'm gonna go finish the last few tests. Do we get a place to sleep or should we go back to the hotel?" He asked her, she reached up to give him a pat on his back in response.

"We actually get to all sleep together in the gym once you're done testing. Everyone's having dinner about now, so you should have a few hours to finish this up." She said, tossing her backpack over her shoulder. "By the way, do you want anything for dinner? I'm getting takeout." She asked with a smile, this perked Silas up just a bit, something about cheap takeout makes him happy in a strange way.

"Just pick something sweet, instead of spicy. I don't do well with spicy." Silas said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Nia nodded, gently turning away from him and heading back to the exit of the academy, Silas turned back, walking to the arena alone and opening the double doors to show the arena now completely empty, bar a few instructors chatting together. The five of them turning to Glare at Silas, which made him freeze nervously. One instructor walked up, it was a bit strange… She was in full ninja garb. Geta, flowing black clothes and a straw hat, she had a mouth cover, which was down around her neck so he could see her mouth.

"Ah, You're finally back. The rest of the instructors were mad that they had to stay so long." She explained, Silas gently reaching down to scratch his chin. "Sorry, I guess. Is there anything I could do to make this quick?" He asked her, she nodded. "The strength and aura tests are rather easy, there isn't much nuance when it comes to those skills. It's just how hard you hit and how much Aura you have. Which one do you want to do first?" She asked him, Silas thought for a minute, glancing down at the floor before replying.

"Hmm… Strength, I don't mind hitting something." He replied, the ninja girl nodded, taking him by the wrist and walking him across the stage until he got to the end. It was a simple set up with the strength machine. It simply resembled a strike machine you would see in an arcade. Though with much more floor space. A simple sandbag stood in the middle of the room, wiring hooking up to a computer with a display showing an interface matching the huge screen attached to the wall.

"Just… hit it really hard, see how you measure up. Simple enough, right?" She said with a small smile. Silas nodded, gently cracking his fingers and popping his neck as he got ready. Getting into a lower fighting stance. "We had to spend an hour repairing it after a big blue haired guy smashed it so hard it broke, so it's great that you get to test it out!" She chirped cheerfully.

"Probably Marduk…" He commented before breaking into the fastest run he could do. Leaping into the air and smashing his knee into the padding as hard as he could. It gave just enough that he didn't feel too much pain. But it had the satisfying crack sound of landing a hard strike, until a bell sounded off to signify the test was done. Silas pushed off, landing back on his two feet and turning to face the monitor.

It filled up to three stars, Silas looking disappointed. "3? Really? A 3?" He complained, but the instructor spoke up. "Well.. Keep in mind you're on the small side, and you're kind of svelte. If you really want to build up strength you'll have to get the body type for it. My strength is only a 4 and I've been here for nearly a decade." She replied, rubbing the back of her head.

Silas sighed, turning to her with a bit more of a calm expression. "Yeah, I guess that's true.. I shouldn't focus on stuff I'm not all that good at." He admitted, stretching his wrists as she began to lead him to the Aura machine. "So… Who are you? I didn't meet you before when I first got here." Silas asked, the Kunoichi looked back, her hands behind her back. "I'm Momoko. I'm one of the newer instructors, since I recently transferred from Mistral." She explained, Silas nodding as she walked to the other machine.

It was a simple box, with two handles where you were supposed to grip your hands. Along with that, a meter with a star rating from 1 to 10 was just in front of where you place your hands. "Sooo.. Grab both of the handles, charge your Aura and see how high you rate." Momoko explained, but Silas just stared at the machine in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. "Look.. I literally saw something like this at a fair once. The only difference was when you grabbed it, it would tell you how in love you were." Silas replied, which Momoko gave an awkward chuckle in response.

"Yeah, uhh… We actually based it off of that." She admitted, Silas just responding by sliding both of his hands down his face in annoyance. "Oh god…" He muttered, but slowly approached the machine anyway. Placing both hands onto the machine and closing his eyes. His body began to slowly shimmer with his purple aura. The LED indicator began to fill with blue, going slowly up higher until it hit slightly over 4 stars. Once again, it gave a ding in response.

"Four! Not bad, actually." Momoko chided, Silas let go and wiped some of the sweat off his brow. "Mh… Are all my scores gonna be low except for speed?" He complained to himself, looking at the floor and slowly walking his way across the room behind the instructor guiding him, taking to the final test, the Technique exam.


	10. Chapter 6: Scenario

Chapter 6: Scenario

Silas walked up to the strangest thing he would have seen inside an academy, a replica apartment complex. 4 stories high, and about 3 rooms across. Coated in cheap concrete plaster making it a shade of rather boring beige. The fire exit was removed, making the only way up the building probably being the staircase inside. Silas walked up to it, when two technicians grabbed both of his arms. "Uhh… Hello?" He asked, confused as to why they were holding him in place.

"The technique test requires a very specific set up, so just shut up and let us put on the apparatus." A technician spoke, his face covered in a generic face mask. Placing a gauntlet with a screen display projected onto it. The other technician placing a band up along the base of his spine.

"Please proceed to the front room, where the rest of the instructions will be told to you." The first instructor spoke again, backing off of Silas as he looked at his gauntlet. In the socket near his wrist was a display for a Scroll, currently blank except for his current Aura displayed, 92/100. Silas just assumed he's not 100% recovered yet, but it's good enough to do this test.

Silas walked to the front door of the apartment complex, turning the doorknob to realize… it was unlocked. Slowly walking into the room and closing the door behind him. The room was dark, and his eyes didn't adjust so he couldn't even see the other side of the room. Suddenly, bright lights flashed on, revealing a short hallway and a single door on the other side. The voice spoke on the intercom speaker just above the first door.

"Technique isn't about how fast you can fight, technique is your ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances, your ability to maintain your composure under stress, and your ability to improvise a solution." Instructor Wolfe explained. "Silas, each room will test your ability to adapt to various situations and handicaps. Each room you pass in the next 10 minutes, will be added to your total technique score. If you don't manage to complete all rooms in the 10 minutes, the last room you're in when the buzzer hits will be your final score." He concluded, the buzzer ringing as the next room's door opened automatically.

"Let's start things out simple with room one." Wolfe spoke, Silas walked through the front door and closed it behind him. There was a masked instructor standing before him on the other side the room, standing in front of the locked door. "This guy has the key to the next room. Figure out how to get the key off of him, or fight him until his scroll considers him defeated to advance." He finished, the instructor getting into a fighting stance.

"Wanna go, kid?" The masked man asked, Silas smiled a little bit, when he suddenly disappeared from view. "W-what the...?" He stammered out, when suddenly the belt to his pants was undone, making it fall to the floor. A key floated out of his pocket, before turning invisible just like Silas did. Silas appeared back where he originally was, spinning the key between his fingers. "So… I won't tell anyone I did that, can I go to the next room now?" Silas asked with a little smirk on his face. The instructor sighed, gently grabbing his pants to cover up the heart print boxers he was wearing.

"I guess I didn't expect you could do that." He muttered, still somewhat embarrassed from being pantsed. Silas walked past him, putting the key in the door, twisting it to the side and opening it to the next room. This one didn't have an enemy, initially. "And now we get to introduce my favorite feature! Handicap roulette!" Wolfe said with gusto. "Check your Scroll and see the cool thing that happens." He said, sounding much less mature than Silas thought he was.

A roulette interface appeared, spinning a little too fast for Silas to actually read. It began to slow down, each wedge of the circle listing various effects that all sounded less than ideal. It slowed to a stop, the one blinking said blindness. "Blindness?" Silas asked, before his vision began to fade to black, which made him panic. "H-hey! I can't see!? I can't see! What's happening?" He asked, panicked somewhat from the fact he didn't expect they could do that to him.

"So yeah, that interface they strapped to your back? It's tied to your nervous system now. Any handicap you get will be them manipulating your nervous system for different effects. This is supposed to replicate the nature of injuries in battle, when you can't rely on your typical tricks." He concluded, Silas crossed his arms, still nervous about being blind. "Sadly, this isn't a fight. In this room there is another key, and you're going to have to find it while blind. Have fun!" He said with a jovial tone.

"...You guys are jerks." Silas muttered in response. Slowly walking around the room with his hands in front of him, before he felt his hips bump into something hard. Stumbling forward and planting both hands onto a smooth, wooden surface in front of him. "Okay, this is either a table, or…" He said, patting his hand down both sides until he felt a handle. Gripping it and opening it. "It's a drawer!" He exclaimed with excitement, reaching his hand into the drawer, sliding it along the surface to see if he could feel a key.

"Empty, damn it." He complained, shoving the drawer back into place. Sliding his hand further down to see if there was another drawer. "Second drawer! Aww yeah." He chided with a smile, grabbing the key on that desk and slowly trying to feel his way across the room, until he tripped over a small coffee table, spilling to the floor with a thud. "Okay, I am seriously not happy about this being blind thing…" Silas spoke with a sigh, dusting himself off and walking over to the door, sticking the key in and trying to open it, only then realizing that they key didn't fit in the door.

"Okay, so the handicap you got is random… So we didn't really intend this room to be managed while being blind. I might as well give you a hint, there are 5 locks, and 5 keys. Each key unlocks a different lock, and the last lock unlocks the door. Good luck with that, kiddo." Wolfe explained to Silas, who got an annoyed look on his face. "There are FIVE OF THEM!?" He shouted in annoyance. Slowly bending down and trying to feel for another lock.

"Wait, maybe what I tripped over had a couple of locks on it!" He said, turning around, running back to the center, before tripping over the exact same table again. "This is awful!" He shouted, slamming a hand onto the floor, before turning around to look back at the table, or attempt to since he couldn't see. Scrambling to his knees, leaning over the table and feeling his hands across the top of it until he felt a small clamshell shaped box. "Lockbox!" He shouted with excitement, pushing his key into the lock and twisting, hearing the satisfying click sound.

He hurriedly opened the box, pulling the new key out of the box. Spinning the key between his fingers and tossing it into the air to celebrate, but.. He then immediately missed catching it, hearing the key land on the floor. "Goddamn it…" He muttered, sliding back to his knees and searching for the key yet again. He found it again, slowly scooting along the floor until he felt a large, metal box that felt almost impossible to move thanks to the weight. "This must be a safe." Silas muttered, slowly searching for a keyhole and placing the key inside, but it didn't unlock. "Okay, this might be like… the fourth one. I need to find the third one." He thought to himself, trying to make an image of the room in his head, placing the dresser on the right back of the room near the entrance door, the safe on the left side in the center of the room, and the coffee table in the middle.

"There should be a blank space on the exit door, big enough for the next lockbox. If it isn't over there, then I have no ideas." He mused to himself, slowly walking back across the room, then tripping over the coffee table a third time. "WHOEVER PUT THIS COFFEE TABLE HERE IS DEAD, GOT IT!?" Silas shouted in a temper tantrum. But the loudspeaker just responded with laughter amongst several instructors. "Oops, left the mic on." Wolfe said, the audio abruptly cutting out as Silas bit his lower lip to contain some of his outburst.

"Okay, Okay. Okay okay okay." Silas said, slapping both hands against his own face to get himself focused back on the task at hand. Slowly walking across the room and realizing there was nothing there. "What, no lockbox? Are you serious right now?" He complained to himself, pushing his hands against the wall and sliding down. Maybe there was a lock on the wall, or on the floor or something.

When his hands hit the floor, he noticed there was a small gap between the floorboards. "Well I'll be damned…" Silas said sliding his fingers along the outline of the strange gap along the floor until he felt hinges. Gasping with surprise, meeting his hands to the center of the hinges to find a keyhole. "I win! Take that, stupid exam." Silas celebrated, putting the key in the hole and unlocking it, revealing a shallow cavity in the floor with a key in the center. Taking it out and turning to walk back over to the safe. Silas made a wide berth around where he thought the coffee table was, but almost ends up stubbing his toes on the safe.

"Okay… Lock. Key. Turn. To open the thing." He said in a half song, half mantra. Opening the safe door before the madness he felt himself slowly falling under in a blind haze took over his mind. Taking the last key, and running to the exit door to open it. As soon as he walked through the door, Instructor Wolfe spoke yet again.

"Alright, now look at your… Wait, you're still blind. My bad." He said, the roulette hitting the next handicap for the room. Slowly Silas' eyes focused again, reading the Scroll that stated "Fun with Paralysis." currently selected on the wheel. "Oh god, what's this one do?" Silas asked aloud, looking up to see the room he was in.

It was the stairwell, but the entire staircase was removed, leaving a gap between the first and second floor about 12 feet high, with nothing but a wall and the outline of where the railing used to be. Silas waited for a response, when suddenly he felt the strength in his legs completely cut out, sending him onto the floor in a heap. Panicking somewhat, he began to gasp for air.

"That effect is a doozy, you kind of have crap luck." Wolfe said with a chuckle, but Silas was too scared to be annoyed by that. "Every 5 seconds, you will be paralyzed for another 5 seconds. You have to figure out how to get to the next room without your body giving out." He explained, Silas getting the motion back into his limbs again and standing back to his feet. "5 seconds isn't too bad." He said, breaking into a run and leaping against one wall, leaping against the other wall to get enough momentum to leap over the gap.. When he felt his legs cut out again.

He fell down from the wall, slamming into the top of the stairs ribcage first, slowly peeling off the wall and landing onto his back. "Who the hell invented this?" Silas complained, still unable to move for a few more seconds. "It was Ms. Perdix who invented this a few months back." Silas grumbled, as he felt his body return to normal.

"I am giving her SUCH A TALKING TO." He stated with annoyance, leaping onto the wall again, catching himself onto the ledge and pulling himself up before his body gave out again for the last time before the handicap ended. He took a couple of deep breaths, his back against the wall flat. Giving a little sigh of relief as he took a breather.

"I understand you want a breather, Silas… but remember you have a 10 minute time limit, okay?" Wolfe announced to him, but he just looked up at the intercom and waving a hand to gesture to leave him be. "Look, taking a breather isn't slacking off. I just needed to collect myself." He responded, heading to the front door of the second floor, taking a deep breath and opening it for his next challenge. This time, two instructors were standing before him, their arms crossed patiently.

"This is like the first room, actually." Wolfe explained, Silas looking down at his scroll to see the next handicap he was going to get. "Floppy arms." The handicap roulette revealed, when suddenly Silas' arms lost all function. "One of these guys has a key, you're gonna have to fight them and get the key… without using your arms, it seems." He said with a bemused chuckle. Silas sighed, looking at the two instructors.

"Is it too much to ask you guys fight me one at a time?" Silas pleaded with the two instructors, one of them shrugging at him before getting into a fighting stance. "Welp, I tried." Silas gave into the fate of having to fight two of them at once. Getting into an improvised fighting stance of standing on one leg in a flamingo stance, one knee up to his chest to both block and kick.

The first instructor threw a hammer blow, Silas stepped backward to dodge, before switching legs and landing three snapping kicks to his chest and side to make him stumble back. The other one shoved the first instructor aside, slamming Silas in the chest with a heavy kick sending him back. Silas flipped back, before realizing he couldn't use his arms. So he landed on his back. Curling both of his legs back to his chest and attempting to spring back up, only to meet a kick in the face.

Silas gasped, landing back on the floor and taking a quick glance at his Aura, which was hovering around 60. He looked back to see the other instructor lifting his leg for an axe kick, which Silas dodged by rolling away from him. He got back onto one knee, noticing one was wearing blue armor, and the other was wearing grey armor. The blue one missed the kick, so they grey one ran up to try and strike Silas.

Silas dodged, bobbing his head side to side so each punch would miss, eventually countering with a 1-2 kick to Grey's chest, then his face, making him stumble back. Blue stayed back for now as Grey got composed. They now attacked together, each taking a flank and both swinging a hooking strike. Silas twirled gracefully between the two strikes, spinning backward and hitting a hard kick to the back of Blue's head, crashing him to the floor face first. Silas threw another kick, this time a sweep at Grey, but he caught Silas' leg between his two legs, catching it in place. Silas fell to the floor, swinging wild kicks with his free leg to try and get him to let go.

"Let's spin." Grey said, grabbing Silas by his other leg and spinning, sending him crashing into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. Silas groaned, Grey stamping to his chest to pin him down as Silas writhed against the slightly stronger instructor. This guy must be a huntsman, even if he wasn't a named instructor like Wolfe or Momoko. Silas spun a leg, hitting his knee into the knee pit of Grey, making him stumble down onto one leg and gave him a chance to slip out.

He got back to his feet. "I kind of miss my arms already…" Silas complained, gently stepping back and swinging a wild series of kicks to Blue, as Grey began to stand back up to swing another haymaker at Silas, which hit him on the back of his head. Silas stumbled forward slightly, before Grey dropped an elbow at him. Silas slipped his head out, before running to the side of the room. The instructors chased Silas, as he planted a foot on the wall, jumping off of it and spinning in mid air, splitting his legs and kicking Grey with his lead foot, while grazing Blue with his back foot. This was enough for Grey's aura monitor to go off

Grey dropped to one knee, as Blue gently wiped off some of the rubber marking of Silas' slip on shoes from his chin. He charged him, before Silas kicked him in the chest with a knee lift, jumping into the air and headbutting him with the side of his head to make him stumble back without breaking the bandage on his forehead still. Blue threw a kick, which Silas countered by striking his own kick, blocking his and smacking his foot hard into his chest, making him stumble back to the wall. Silas ducked down, leaping over Grey and spinning for a back roundhouse to blue, knocking him onto the floor and sending his Aura down past the level that made him stop fighting.

"Wow, you're better than I thought." Instructor Wolfe announced with pride, Silas took a deep breath and looked at his limp arm, his Aura was currently in the mid 40's. It matched his tired, but not completely exhausted state, since it felt like his legs were starting to feel heavy. "Looks like you won, kid." Grey said, digging into his pocket and pulling out the key to the next room, handing it to Silas as a show of respect. Silas proudly walked up and tried to grab it, before realizing that until he left that room, his arms still wouldn't work.

"Uhh… could you tuck that behind my ear or something?" Silas asked, which got a chuckle from the instructor in blue. Grey tucked the key behind Silas' ear, which Silas walked back to the door and got on his knees. "How the hell am I supposed to open a door without my hands?" Silas asked, looking at the camera that he knew the instructor was watching from.

"Hope they wiped that doorknob down, kid." He joked, but Silas sighed, leaning his head forward so the key dropped onto the ground. He bent down, picking up the key between his teeth and straightening his back, slowly leaning his mouth to the keyhole, having to kiss the key into the knob, before opening his jaw as wide as he could around the knob, twisting it so that the door would unlock. After embarrassing himself, the door opened, and he felt the feeling going back to both of his hands.

But the problem he had, was the taste of dirty brass doorknob in his mouth. So he started spitting, sputtering and wiping his tongue on one of the detached sleeves on the arms of his outfits. "That was gross!" Silas complained, spitting a few more times as he looked up to see what the next room entailed. It looked like a normal room, except for the strange boxes strewn about everywhere.

"This one's a fun one, are you ready for a word puzzle?" Wolfe asked, but Silas' expression said it all, he looked up in wide eyed annoyance. "What the hell does word puzzles have to do with fighting Grimm!?" Silas shouted, but Wolfe just gave a hearty laugh in response. "When you're Dorothy, this test involves a word puzzle. There are hidden slips of paper around this room, each one contains a word. You must put the words in the right order to figure out where to get the key to the next room. Good luck, kiddo." He announced, before the intercom turned off. Silas bit his lower lip in anger, looking around the room and running to the first box on a counter.

He lifted the lid, pulling out a small piece of paper like the ones he sees in the fortune cookies he would buy at A Simple Wok. "Hands." He read out, before slowly scanning the room that looked like a hand. Seeing nothing, he sighed and went to the other box on the same counter, opening it and looking at that paper as well. "And. Well that's a big help." He said, frustratedly deadpan of the whole situation.

"Hand… And. That's not really enough to make a sentence." Silas thought, walking over to open a box sitting next to a potted plant, pulling out that paper and reading it. "What." The note said, Silas setting them on a counter to check if he could get a clue. "What… and.. Hand. I am not any closer to solving this. This is so dumb." He ranted, eventually scanning around the room, opening every box he could see, and setting all the words in front of him.

"What. And. Hands. Age. Legs. But. Face. Has. Arms. Or. A. No. Wood. Has. Violet. Rose." Silas read out all the words he found, before putting down the final piece of the puzzle. "Speak." He thought to himself, slowly shuffling the words around to see if he could find an order. "Okay, let's try this… 'What rose has violet legs, but a face has arms legs an-'… Okay, this sentence doesn't make any damn sense."

"This is either some kind of riddle, or a cipher. W. A. H. A. L. B. F. H. A. O. N. W. H. V. R. S." Silas thought for a second. "None of those even come close to a good word, unless the answer is 'No.' He thought, throwing out the idea that it was a cipher right away. "Fine, it's a riddle. But… how is this sentence supposed to go?" He asked, shuffling the words around until he had a bunch of scrambled words and 'What has a.' Silas narrowed his glare a bit.

"It would have to be a sentence that makes sense… But some of these words are just random nouns, they wouldn't fit anywhere." He said, sliding out some of the words he thought didn't make sense. "What has … and a… but no…" He muttered to himself, sliding Violet, Rose, Speak, age, and Wood. "What has hands and a face, but no arms or legs." He muttered out, before looking around the room.

"Okay, it has to be something in this room, if I'm looking for the right answer. First it was a potted plant, which he discarded almost immediately. "Wall.. Desk… Tv… Clock." He said, before glancing back at the clock. "A clock has hands.. And it's called a clock face. Oh my god this is so stupid, but I friggin got it!" He said, running up to the clock, taking it off the wall and grabbing the key hanging from the nail it was hung off of.

Running to the door, putting the key inside and running to the next room, right when the buzzer went off. "You've completed five rooms! Not bad." Wolfe spoke with a hint of joy in his voice. "Look, the rest of the students will be back soon, so we're gonna take some of these down and you can help move some of the futons into the room so the students can sleep for tonight.

"Moving beds? Is that my welcome into the academy?" Silas sighed to himself, putting his hands in his pocket as he turned around, slowly walking back to the entrance. "Your total STAR rating is 21, it's not the best but you've passed the bar. Congratulations." Instructor Wolfe congratulated, as Silas went to go do more meaningless chores.


	11. Chapter 7: Blades

Chapter 7: Blades

Night finally settled in, the heat of the surrounding desert getting washed away with a cloudless sky. Silas and the rest of the teachers of Shade Academy spend the last two hours setting up bedding arrangements for the roughly 60 or so students not weeded out from the initial exam, along with the 20 who were promoted from Umbra. Silas picked a bed that faced against one of the walls of the Gym, mostly so he didn't have to deal with too much foot traffic.

Eventually the students filed in, finding their own place to sleep. The beds were just far apart enough that any private conversations would just fade into the rooms natural noise. Silas leaned against a wall, shoulders pressed to the cool concrete as he just quietly watched what other students were doing.

He picked up his scroll, opening it and pressed the quick dial for a contact that said 'Aunt Irena' He held it to his ear, waiting for the ringing to stop. A soft, but distant voice picked up on the other line. "Hello, who is this?" The woman asked, but Silas sighed. "It's Silas. You need to check your caller ID when you answer calls." He complained, but got a clicking of the tongue from the other line.

"Not my fault you woke me up, kiddo." She said, her tone lightening up somewhat. "So, how did the huntsman thing go?" She asked him, Silas thought for a second before replying. "I got in, I didn't do as well as I thought. They want us to stay the night here. Do you think you could stop by our hotel room and bring our stuff?" He asked, she paused for a second. "Sure. The academy sticks out like a sore thumb in this place so I won't have too much trouble finding ya. See you in a bit." She said, hanging her scroll up, Silas doing the same and going back to watching the others.

"Oh, hello there." A woman said from somewhere behind him. Silas turned a shoulder to see who it was. It was the same woman in black he was talking to earlier in the day. She was clad in a simple dark blue dress without a back, with black accents along the edges. "Oh, you were the person talking to me earlier! Sorry that I forgot to eat the apple. I just kinda.. Set it down and forgot it, then I went to the hospital..." Silas stammered, his hand behind his head.

The woman shook her head a little bit and shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Is that why you got those bandages on your forehead?" She asked, Silas reaching up to feel them. "Yeah, it's not a big cut, I didn't need stitches or anything." He responded, but she softly went down to sit on the same bed as him. "Well I wanted to at least introduce myself now that it looks like you've managed to pass the first day. I'm Dahlia." She said with a smile on her face. Silas perked up, reaching out his hand to shake hers. "Silas." He introduced himself in return.

"I have go to make a call to my family, I just wanted to make sure you're hanging in there." She said with a reply, getting up from the bed and walking off as Nia, and another woman both approached him. "Sorry to interrupt your lady time, but I picked up Nia while she was getting takeout." The woman said, Silas looking up at her.

She was slightly taller than Nia, with wild dark brown hair going over her shoulders. The somewhat curvaceous woman clad in a tuxedo. A neatly tied purple tie around her neck. She had a single hazel eye, the other was covered in a leather eyepatch with two straps on the top and bottom of her eye, the patch on her eye having a skull embroidered on it. Around her hips was a belt, each side having a sword, along with a small drinking flask. "Heya Si." She said, slowly walking up and handing a gloved hand, holding a pair of chopsticks and a small white box.

"Sesame Chicken. Isn't that the thing you always order?" She said, Nia holding her own box of noodles and slurping them with a fork instead. "Yeah, Irena, I know I always order the same thing…" Silas complained, grabbing the box from her "But to be fair, Sesame chicken is awesome. No debates allowed." He said, pointing his chopsticks at his Aunt, before taking out a piece of chicken and quickly eating it.

"God, you're such a dork, Silas." Irena said, walking over and sitting next to Silas, popping the flask off her waist and taking a sip of the bourbon inside. "We got your stuff, by the way. It's in the trunk of my car." She explained, Nia slowly walking over to an empty adjacent bed to finish her noodles in the relative peace of getting the beds on the side of the room.

"So, made Huntsman, huh?" Irena asked, gently bumping his chest with her elbow. "Well, kind of." Silas shot back, leaning back against the wall and looking at her. "I assume there's still the field test. I think this whole first test is to make sure if they launch me into the wild with like… a cannon or something, I won't immediately get shredded into pieces." He said, giving his Aunt a chuckle.

"So no dorm or anything?" She asked him, he hugged one knee, stretching his neck from side to side. "Nope. We don't have a lot of places to put our things, but I assume we'll be needing our stuff after the next part of the exam." He continued, but Irena just grinned. "If that's the case, then I need to pull you to the side for a bit so we could… discuss something." She said, grabbing Silas by his shoulder and gently pulling him to his feet. She tucked her hands into her pockets, walking with a slight hunch as the two of them slowly walked through the gym to the front door.

They head out the front door, where Silas stopped, but Irena just kept going down the stairs, turning around to look at him. "To the car, dork." She shot at him, Silas sighing a little bit as he briskly hopped down each stair to make up for the gap she made on him. "I don't know why you call me dork, aren't you 35?" Silas asked. "Did I hear an ass kicking? Could you speak up lil guy?" She playfully joked back, her hand pressed to her ear. "Fine, fine. Nevermind…" He shot back, meeting back up with her as they walked into the parking lot on the side. Getting to her car, putting the key in so she could pop the trunk.

Irena's attitude switched as her expression grew a little more serious. "Are you serious about this Huntsman thing? I don't want you to think you owe anybody anything just because your dad was actually an asshat." She said, digging her hands through the trunk calmly, Silas slowly walked up beside her, looking into the trunk to see what she was looking for.

"You are not the first person to ask me that, what is with everyone asking me 'do you want to be a huntsman?' I joined the academy, I'm pretty dedicated to the idea…" Silas complained, but she sighed. "Because you could spend years in Umbra, years in training, fight in tournaments, be number 1… Then walk out the front door on your first mission and get decapitated. It's nothing to mess with." She said, slowly pulling out a black briefcase and setting it to her side.

"You might not be ready for this kind of thing." She warned, Silas looking at the floor. "Then what was the… what was it? 5 years of training? I thought you were supposed to help me get ready, and now you warn me that I'm not?" He complained, his hands out in front of him as she scowled, her one good eye glaring at him. "Because I'm NOT a huntress." She stated bluntly, Silas just glaring back at her quietly.

"You know my job. I'm a bodyguard, I was trained by an assassin. Everything I've learned was how to be an assassin… And I've taught you all the tricks that someone like you would be capable of." She explained, Silas just quietly folding his arms. "You don't fight like a huntsman… You fight like a hitman. The way you fight is supposed to be quick, quiet, and not cause a mess." She continued, setting the briefcase on the floor and gently changing the numbers to slowly unlock it.

"Grimm don't care about being noticed, Grimm don't care about you making a mess.. Grimm don't die in one hit… Nothing I've taught you is going to be any use here, and you will have to learn from the instructors how to fight Grimm, so don't put me on a pedestal and say how I fight is 'better' than how Huntsman fight." Her statement was punctuated by the sound of the briefcase slamming open. She slowly grabbed another belt like hers, lifting it up to reveal two sheathed blades, the handle wrapped with knuckle guards.

"These are my old blades, back when my job was a little more… intense." She said, slowly drawing a dagger from it's sheathe. The blade was silver, with subtly glowing purple lines flowing through it. "Isn't most Huntsman weapons combined with a gun or something?" Silas asked, she let her Aura glow a natural blue. The lines on the blade glowing bright purple until they met at the tip, the edge buzzing with a strange purple energy. "This… Is infused with plasma dust. It doesn't need to be a gun." She said, slashing once at the ground, the energy beam hitting the ground and searing the asphalt to a glowing red flame. She slowly bent down onto one knee, pointing the tip to the ground.

"This thing rips through flesh like a hot knife through ice cream as long as you're channeling aura through it." She said, sliding the blade into the asphalt and easily slicing through it without even having to struggle. "The only thing is this… Promise me to never use the plasma blades on another human. It's cruel, it's made for slaughter… And I don't want to subject you to that." She spoke, worried somewhat. "Slinging plasma dust at them is somewhat safer… but do not cut them at close range. I will only give you these if I trust you." She said, spinning the blade to her hands, the blades no longer glowing. "Can I trust you to use these responsibly?" She asked, her head tilting to the side.

"I promise." Silas said, looking her in the eye with his, his cold glare matching the one she gave him just a minute ago. She slid the blade back into the sheathe, gently handing it to him and wrapping an arm around his chest, giving him a soft hug against her body. "Go find your dad, slap him around a little for me, kay?" She said with a smile, Silas sighing from the hug and gently reaching up to hug her back. Silas quietly nodded, before Irena gently let go of him, her hand reaching to softly ruffle his hair. "You're a good kid, Si… You remind me so much like my sister… Despite you being a guy. Did anyone tell you that you look kind of like a girl?" She asked, Silas' soft expression grew annoyed again.

"You're kind of a jerk, Irena." Silas replied, but that just gave Irena a little smile. "Lucky for you, I'll be staying in town for a while since my charge lives here. Just call me if you need me, alright?" She spoke, gently reaching into her trunk again, placing two bags on the ground. One red, and the other black. "The black one is your stuff, by the way." She said, Silas bent down, grabbing the strap and lifting it over his shoulder, standing back up and regaining his balance. Irena grabbed the other back, putting it on her own shoulder as Silas put the belt around his waist, hooking it in so it wouldn't fall off.

"So… How do you make the plasma blade work? Just so I know." Silas asked her, his aunt thought for a second, taking a step ahead of him. "You have to channel aura through it, it requires a bit of precision, but the more laser focused you are, the more power you can attack with." She followed up with, Silas nodding quietly as he drew the blade from the sheathe, looking at the runes on the blade.

"You really shouldn't take that out of the holster. You need to put your weapons in a weapons locker… when they give you the weapons locker." She generalized, but Silas hid the weapon back on his belt and went back into the room. Irena patted him once on the shoulder, leaving his side to return home as Silas went into the gymnasium alone this time, trying to find where his sister was seated, only to see her annoyed by company.

It was a guy, standing on one knee and holding his hands out in front of him as he tried to explain to her. "And what I'm trying to say is that if you ever needed a leader, I'd guide you through the vast expanses of hell itself to save you!" He said with a smile. He had shaggy blonde hair to his chin, with matching golden eyes. His skin was more of a caramel color, and he was clad in a white school uniform with mixes of gold and green trim.

"I don't even know who you are!" She complained, but he just reached up to grasp her hand, his eyes sparkling with tears welling in his eyes. "I'm Dominic Trebbiano, and you're the woman of my dreams." He proclaimed, but all Nia did was stare at him. Silas slowly walked behind him, folding his arms under his chest. "Can we help you?" Silas asked, but Nia just quietly mouthed at her younger brother to 'Call the police.'

Suddenly, Dominic sprang up to his feet, looking awkwardly as Silas with a hand behind his head. They were similar in their slender build, but Dominic had a few inches in height on him. "Is this your boyfriend?" She asked, looking back to Nia. "He's kind of a short-" He was cut off by Silas punching him square in his stomach. "I'm her brother, actually. Go be weird somewhere else." Dominic recoiled, taking a step back before throwing both arms behind his head.

"Whatever, she's ugly anyway." He chided, pretending like he wasn't almost on the verge of tears a few seconds back. He almost tripped on another person's bed as he was leaving. Silas turned back to his sister, who looked absolutely not amused. "Why is every guy I talk to obsessed about women?" Silas asked, but Nia stood up next to him.

"You'll get it when you're a little older. Enjoy the blissful ignorance of being 15." She said, patting him once on his shoulder, Silas quietly shaking his head.


	12. Chapter 8: Proven

A few nights after the qualifying exam, all of the remaining students stood at the launchpad for the hover cars to send Huntsmen on missions. All of the potential students stood shoulder to shoulder, Headmistress Dorothy stood with a glass of tea in her hand, her assistant, Todd was quietly scribbling notes into his book. "I bet you all understand why you're here." Dorothy spoke, taking a sip of her tea.

"This is the true test to see if you newcomers will become the pride of Shade Academy. I suppose a good metaphor for what comes next in the following five days is forging the blade in fire, tempering it to the perfect sharpness." She said with a smile, Silas stood somewhere near the back, somewhat annoyed by the fact he was pretty sure everyone else in the crowd was taller than him.

"In roughly a few minutes, a large airship will land here capable of carrying you to our dedicated testing area. A 50 kilometer stretch covering rivers, caves, cliffs, deserts, and everything else Vacuo has to offer in its diverse, if somewhat arid climate." She explained, lifting her hand to her ear to see if she could hear the sound of the airship approaching.

"This area is not secure, and Grimm roam it entire on their own volition. Yet, it is probably the largest stretch of nature far away enough from the cities that we don't have to worry how violent things will become if we trained our students there." Dorothy elaborated, waiting for a second, and after an awkward pause continued to speak.

"Looks like I got here a little too early, and now it's time to stall until the airship arrives! Any questions about what you know so far?" She asked, slowly walking behind Todd, whose attention got broken from his notes. "O-oh, they're asking me? Okay then." He said with an awkward chuckle, one student with violet hair raising her hand to speak.

"Vacuo's known for being pretty hot… If we're going to be out there for more than a few hours, will we be getting water?" She asked, Todd nodded in response. "You'll be given canteens in your basic supply pack, along with a sleeping roll, and a scroll to both track your aura, and allow us to monitor your progress. We will monitor you without an attempt to intervene unless one of you need medical attention." Todd stated, making the expression on the violet haired girl fill with worry.

"Sadly, Grimm do not know of patience, and in the 2500 square mile area you will be traversing, we will have a response time that will vary. Some of you may die, which is just an unfortunate truth of what bring a huntsman entails. It's why we were stringent with the request that if you don't wish to go face to face with your own mortal coil, you won't be punished if you decide to quit." Todd spoke grimly, which made Silas take a deep breath.

Silas had to fight his second thoughts constantly, especially since he doesn't have any passion for this. To him, it was a means to an end, but was that end even worth it? 'I can't wuss out now… I trained 5 years to find him.' Silas thought to himself, breaking his cloud of doubt, though he ended up clenching his hands so hard his nails almost cut into his flesh. Soon, the hum of the airship began to be heard, the wind displaced by the engines caused a massive gust of wind, rippling clothes and hair. Silas lifted a forearm to shield his eyes.

"Finally!" Todd said, getting tired of answering depressing questions, the airship landing near the pad, the doors on the bottom opening and a long walkway sliding out until it pushed against the floor. "Alright everyone, please enter single file, no pushing or shoving." He said, gesturing as Dorothy walked onto the ship first, followed by him and a long line of students. Silas didn't go until he was one of the few left, making him last in line as he walked into the ship.

After all the students entered, the doors shut, and the walkway retracted back into the chassis. The ship took off, the rumbling from the engines hitting the ground, before it slowed to a quiet reverberation in the floor of the ship. Dorothy walked up to a screen, hitting a button, turning the screen on to reveal a map of the greater Vacuo area.

"On each cardinal direction there is a temple. A temple of wind to the south, a temple of water to the west, a temple of fire to the east, and a temple of thunder to the north. Each one has an emblem that you must take back to the central temple to pass the exam. Each temple is flanked by Grimm, so it will not be a safe trip no matter which direction you must choose." Dorothy began to explain, before changing pictures to something else.

"Here's the catch… You must team up with a partner as soon as you see them, and you will not be able to pass until each one of you have a -different- emblem, or else you will not pass. There is a maximum of 4 people per team, stealing emblems is not allowed, but you may trade emblems with other students as long as both students agree." She continued, slowly walking back from the students as they began to hover over the central temple.

"This will take place over 5 days, if you can't claim a symbol and return to the center temple with an emblem, you do not pass the exam and will be sent back to Umbra, You are all provided with Scrolls for mapmaking and information gathering as you please. Understood?" She asked, nodding coming from several people as she explained. "And one more thing." She said, hitting a button, causing the floor to open wide, dropping all of the students from it with screaming from many of them. "Have fun! Don't die!" She shouted out of the hole, watching as they all fell several hundred feet to the ground.

"Do we have to do that every time?" Todd spoke, pulling out his scroll to check the surveillance cameras. "I'm talking Ozpin into doing this with his own students, it's funny every time." She replied, opening her own to observe her falling students. First was the person she was interested in the most, Lazarus, who was fresh from the hospital. He was quickly loading bullets into both revolvers, pointing the first one at the ground.

"Six shots of fire Dust…" He said, unleashing a hail of bullets into the earth that exploded into flames, slowly heating the ground to a hissing red glowing rock, each shot hitting the ground making the circle of heat bigger and hotter. "And to match, 6 rounds of ice Dust." He muttered, spinning the pistol and firing six shots into the ground right where he heated up the ground. The ice dust quickly froze overtop the near lava hot ground, until it began to crack and melt. Suddenly, a blast of hot steam fired up from a small hole in the ice, launching into the air at hundreds of miles per hour and hitting Lazarus directly.

Blocking the heat from his face with both his arms, the pseudo geyser he made stopped his fall, turning his skydive into a gentle landing on the ground beneath him. Dusting off some of the water and rocks on his long black coat, spinning both revolvers and tucking them back into the holsters of his coat. "I'm surprised that worked." He muttered to himself, before he was distracted by the sound of screaming coming from the sky.

"Amateurs." Lazarus sighed to himself. Giving his sore leg a stretch, they removed the bullet from it and closed the wound, but the feeling of the stitches made his leg harder to move than he'd like. Quickly, Dorothy switched to the person who was falling and screaming like an afraid chinchilla, who was Silas.

"Oh… The Weathersky boy. I forgot he joined the academy at the last second." She spoke to herself, as she watched Silas flail in mid air, which made his descent a little slower than Lazarus' hawk like dive. He reached into his belt, pulling his two blades out and flipped stomach down, trying to find something he could hook the blades into as a brake. Eventually spotting a large tree, he spun both his blades and slammed them as hard as he could into the wood… Then realizing the blade didn't slide down like they wanted, they caught.

His grip wasn't strong enough to hold on for a sudden stop, so the blades slipped out of his hands and stuck to the top of the tree. Silas then proceeded to his every single branch on the way down, before landing face first on the bottom in a heap. This made Dorothy cringe. "Oooh… Nasty." She chided, but Silas slowly got onto one knee, looking at the top of the tree with blurred vision.

"She's gonna kill me if I left her blades in a tree…" Silas said, limping over to the tree and hugging his arms around it, starting the process of sluggishly climbing up a 100 foot tall tree to get his blades from it. His aura was already waning and he didn't even fight anybody yet. To be fair, he didn't expect to fall from an airship either.

It was a slow climb, so Dorothy switched off the monitor, leaving Silas slowly climbing the tree until he hit the top, wrapping both thighs around the tree, reaching up with both hands and gripping his blades. "Aaaand they're free!" He shouted with excitement, jerking his shoulders back to realize only then they were stuck in there really good. "Oh no…" Silas muttered, realizing he'd have to pull harder.

"Okay, you can do this… One good yank and you can start this mission." He muttered to himself, gripping hard enough to turn his knuckles white. "Annnd… GO!" He shouted, leaning back with all his weight, and tugging the blades loose… then throwing them so hard they both fell off the tree and hit the bottom a few seconds later. Silas was now upside down, hanging from the tree by the grip of his legs.

"...This is bad." Silas complained, trying to sit back up, but feeling the sudden swaying of the tree from a gust of wind, along with a pain in his ribs. "C'mon… Just… Grab the damn tree." Silas demanded of himself, but he still couldn't do it. Silas squeezed his thighs harder on the wood and went back to being upside down. "There's one thing left to do… My secret technique." He concluded, before putting both hands in front of his mouth.

"CAN SOMEBODY GET ME DOWN? I'M STUCK!" He shouted, not sure if anyone could hear him, but he was shouting as loud as he physically could. "Please!? I'll make you my mom's famous cookies!" He shouted, before a dizzy spell made him stop. "W-woah… Hey, the blood's rushing to my head!" He said, his voice wavering a bit, when he heard the rustling of some bushes.

"Aww yeah, rescue team~" Silas said, pumping his fist excitedly, until his heart sank. It was a Grimm, a Beowolf. Though, a fairly small one who was slowly walking up to the base of the tree, sniffing it and giving a predatory growl, sitting down at the base. "Hey… Buzz off Beowolf, I'm in a situation up here." Silas complained to the beast, who didn't react to his speaking. Silas gently swayed his hands. "Shoo. Shoooo! Why aren't you shooing?" Silas complained, though he was trying to cover his nervousness with frustration.

The bushes rattled again, and now two more beowolves approached, though they were bigger and covered in bone like appendages over their muzzles and shoulders. One growled, standing on the tree and sharpening its claws on the wood. "Damn it…" Silas sighed, covering his face with his hand and shaking it side to side. "Okay, Beowolves… I know this looks bad. I'm upside down, my ribs might be broken, I'm stuck in the tree like a curious cat… but this isn't negative emotion!" He pleaded to the Grimm, seeing more Beowolves approach from the bushes the first few exited from.

"Okay, this joke is much less funny now that I see like ten of them." He said, when suddenly his legs began to tremble, holding onto his weight was getting harder and harder by the second. "This is awful…" Silas exclaimed, swallowing quickly as he tried to sit up again to grab onto the branch, but the same pain in his ribs made him jump in pain.

"So this is how I die… A Grimm Pinata." Silas said, closing his eyes in the shame he was feeling at the moment. Suddenly, shots rang out that made Silas jump, his eyes shooting open. A man with red hair was firing potshots at the mob of Grimm collected at the bottom of the tree. "You were sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, why did you NOT think Grimm would show up?" The man shouted, a bullet piercing one Beowolf's skull, sending it to the floor.

"Drop down, grab your weapons. I'll cover you!" He shouted, getting on one knee and firing more and more shots at the Grimm. Silas was a bit apprehensive at the idea of diving into the gunfire. But his legs were starting to go numb. He let go, falling down and kicking off a tree to slow his momentum. Between shots, Silas dove into the Grimm, grabbing both his blades and sliding between their legs on his back to make some room.

"Okay, I'm low on Aura, so I'll run interference, see if you can get more shots on them!" Silas shot back, which made the red haired man smirk. "Perfect." Firing 6 shots off at a time, reloading with one hand while the other aimed and shot, making a perpetual stream of bullets. They chased after the tired Silas, which made them ignore the attack, Some of the wounded Grimm slowing down and struggling, which he quickly shot in the head to dwindle their numbers. Silas dove against a tree, turning the other way and diving back into the pile of Grimm. Ducking between each swipe with his superior speed, finally landing a few slashes against them, just enough to keep their attention off the fact that precise pistol shots were raining from the other side of the clearing they were at.

Leaping with one leg off a Grimm's swipe, Silas launched himself overtop the mob, landing on his feet just behind him before sinking back down to one knee. "Running will just make you die tired, we need to split these Grimm into two groups so we can finish them off!" The redhead shouted back at Silas, who nodded quietly.

The redhead ran into the group, landing a few swift kicks to a Beowolf, as Silas waved over the attention of the remaining Grimm, the group of 5 beasts split into two, Silas getting two and the man getting three. As the man looked at Silas, he just came to a realization. 'That's the kid who fought me back at the robbery, damn it…" Lazarus realized exactly who he was, though it seemed like Silas was too exhausted to think, and was more acting on instinct.

"These are the bigger ones, don't attack unless you think you can avoid getting hit. I'll give you covering fire." Lazarus demanded, Silas nodding his head as one of the Beowolves pounced at him. Silas landing onto his back and landing a quick slash to it's chest. Silas then turned invisible, getting out of the way of the next Grimm slamming into the first. Silas quickly lept to the bottom branch of a tree, diving off and planting a slash into its throat while riding its head. The beowolf growled, grabbing Silas by his arms and throwing him off hard enough that he bounced. The other monster slammed its head into him in mid air, knocking the wind out of him and slamming him into a tree hard enough for all the leaves to fall off.

"Damn it, kid." Lazarus growled, having to ignore the Grimm he was going to attack to rescue the younger huntsman. Silas caught the fangs of a beowolf between his blades, prying its jaw open as Lazarus stomped over, planting a gun in the back of its head and firing three shots, destroying the Grimm. The other one blindsided Lazarus, landing slashes on his chest and sending him rolling along the Ground. Silas collected himself, getting back onto his feet and interrupted it's onslaught on his new ally by doing his now signature flying knee to the side of his head, sending the beast to the ground.

"That knee thing really works." Silas said with a chuckle, before a loud growl sent a shiver up his spine, the three beasts that Lazarus ignored have painted a target on the young man. Lazarus got back up, shoving Silas to the side when one tackled him to the ground, opening its maw to bite Lazarus, before getting a gun in his mouth.

"Don't pat yourself on your back." He said, shooting the beast down its throat, killing it. Silas sighed, holding his blades out and trying to channel his aura through it. The blades flickered a shade of purple, albeit a weak looking one. Putting the two blades together about an inch apart, the glowing became a ball of plasma in the center. Another Grimm charged at Silas, which made him throw the ball of plasma from the blade to its face, causing an explosion of electricity and fire that blew half it's face clean off, bringing the number down to three.

"H-hey, that worked!" Silas shouted in excitement of learning that little trick, despite it seemed… less than reliable, though it left him open for the next attack, a hard swipe that launched his lithe frame nearly twenty feet into the air, with girlish shrieking coming from the shock of being launched so high into the air.

"F-Fallinnnng!" Silas shouted, Lazarus firing a few shots to stun the beast, Silas landing on the Grimm as it roared as Silas. "Hi." Silas greeted, almost casually, before stabbing his blades into both of the Grimm's eyes. "Stab." He said, casually, the Beowolf trying to buck him off like a wild bull, which caused more girlish screams to come from Silas. The blinded beast fell onto it's back, nearly crushing Silas in the spikes on it's shoulders. Silas pulled the blades out of it's eyes, charging the blade again and slicing it like a hot knife through it's neck, killing the next one and leaving two.

Silas started taking some deep breaths to recover, since he began to feel his Aura fade. "Sorry, you need to take these two!" Silas shouted to his assumed stranger, Lazarus bit his lip and reloaded his guns with more fire dust. "I didn't want to use all my dust right away… But these guys are pissing me off." He muttered, marching forward determined with a limp, blasting bullets upon bullets in both beasts, turning their back to face him as each bullet caused a fireball, sending them recoiling back in pain until both fell, dead.

"Done." Lazarus said, blowing some of the smoke from his gun as he walked back to Silas, who was leaning against the tree. "You alright?" He asked, before Silas stared at his face, his expression immediately changing from tired to anger. "It's YOU!" Silas shouted, tiredly leaping onto Lazarus, grabbing him by his black and red leather jacket. "You're that punk from the bank! You're that punk who shot me! Who the HELL let you into the academy!?" Silas shouted, the fury coming from almost nowhere for Lazarus.

"Chill." Lazarus said, shoving Silas, but Silas had a grip on Lazarus' coat, swinging a wild punch at his face, which Lazarus just casually dodged. "You pull a gun, threaten innocent people, and kick me, and shoot me several times in the face, and you're telling ME to chill!? The nerve of you, man…" Silas said, seething clearly at the man he fought just a week ago.

"You know what happened after I took the money? I got betrayed." Lazarus said to the angry Silas, not sure if he could hear him or not. "I still can't run that fast on the leg they shot me with, I'm pretty sure I'll have problems using it for months. The police made a deal with me. I become a student and track down who hired me." He explained, Silas letting go of his coat.

"I wished it was anybody else who saved me." Silas complained, putting his hands on his hips. "Look, I don't want to be here. But if this is my way out, I'm going to give it my all." Lazarus said, though it sounded somewhat forced. "So… Someone ruined your life, and you joined the Academy to find them." Silas said, looking at his own feet.

"Pretty much, yeah." Lazarus replied, which made Silas' eyes shoot wide. "Oh no… no no no no…" Silas stammered, putting his hands on each side of his head in disbelief. "What now? Did you break something?" Lazarus asked, confused, slightly walking up to the shorter raven haired man. "We're the same. Like… Eerily the same to the point I hate it." Silas complained, pointing a finger to him, but Lazarus just tilted his head slightly, waiting for him to explain.

"SERIOUSLY, WE'RE THE SAME." Silas almost shouted now from the exasperation coming over him. "I hate the academy. Someone ruined my life, I begrudgingly joined the academy in order to find him. Just… Switch out 'being forced to' with 'because I hate my dad." Silas explained, which made Lazarus rub his temples. "Oh god, we really are the same. That is so lame." He complained, Silas sighed a little bit as Lazarus gently walking up to him and pulling out his scroll.

"They said the first person I meet is my teammate. So… Let's make a plan, alright?" Lazarus spoke, pulling up the map on his Scroll, setting it on the ground and laying it in front of him. "So… What's your opinion on caves?" Lazarus asked, Silas looking at the Scroll like it was him learning a new language. "Uhh… There are caves on this map?" Silas asked, kneeling down a little closer as Lazarus narrowed his glare at him. "Have you ever used one of these things? It's touch interfaced. Watch." Lazarus said, zooming the map in by moving two fingers simultaneously.

"The temple of wind is a somewhere in a cave system according to the topography… The temple of fire is in a desert, the temple of lightning is on a mountain, and the temple of water is on the coast. With my bad leg and you being… you." Lazarus continued, which made Silas glare at him unamused. "We could probably have the easiest time if we just explored the caves for the emblem, before planning our next move. Any questions?" Lazarus said, looking up at him.

"I guess that's what we're doing." Silas said, standing back up and stretching both his arms, trying to recover from the last fight. "To the caves!" He proclaimed, pointing a finger at what he assumed was south.

"That's west, Idiot." Lazarus corrected him, which Silas responded by turning to the left and pointing that way instead. "CAVES. LET'S GO." He said, loudly in annoyance.


	13. Chapter 9: Battle Buddies

Chapter 9: Battle Buddies

The surprise of falling onto the battlefield finally began to fade as Dahlia's pulse began to slow back down to normal. Her weapon, a rifle strapped to her waist, hanging off one leg as she quietly began to check her scroll. "Four temples, one in each direction." She spoke quietly to herself, when suddenly the shifting of trees caught out of her ears. She quickly grabbed the base of her rifle, spinning around and hitting a button on the sheathe to cause it to fold in on itself to become a rather bulky looking sword, pointed at the direction of where she heard the noise.

"Woah woah woah…" A voice spoke up, walking out of the bushes with his hands up. He spoke, the white clad student said, his gold eyes meeting her crimson ones. Dahlia sheathed her blade back into the rifle, strapping it back to her waist. "Take it easy, Do you really need to pull a gun on every person you see?" He said with an awkward chuckle, trying to play of the fact she made him nervous.

"It's a pretty dangerous environment. I don't really know my surroundings all that well so I'm being cautious." She replied, softly crossing her arms over her chest as he looked away awkwardly from her. "I guess since we've met we're partners now?" Dahlia questioned, the blonde brightening up a little bit with a smile. "Well if that's the case, I'm Dominic Trebbiano. At your service." He said, reaching out a hand so she could take it.. But got nothing in return. He frowned a bit, but Dahlia quickly got her scroll out to check the map.

"I'm Dahlia Sais. It's nice to meet you, Dominic." She looked up with a little smile on her face, before Dominic got onto one knee to look at the map as well. "So… Where are we going?" Dominic asked, but Dahlia was deep in though, one of her gloved fingers gently sliding along the map to look at the paths. "The temple of thunder is based on top of a mountain, considering the climate, and the name, the gusts and unstable rocks could make it pretty dangerous." She thought, Dominic leaning over to adjust the map himself.

"I'll be honest, I'm not that keen on walking through a desert... " He said, Dahlia nodding her head gently. "So the temple of fire is out of the question, and the temple of thunder is as well." She said, scrolling back to the temple to the west. "How about the south? Caves are kind of dangerous, but barring an earthquake, or an explosion… We should be pretty safe while we find the temple." She asked Dominic.

"That seems fine.. Though I have a question." Dominic asked, cocking an eyebrow and rubbing his chin a little bit. Dahlia looked rather curious, tilting her head a little bit. "Yes?" She asked, before Dominic pointed finger guns at her. "You single?" He asked, but Dahlia just rubbed her hand behind her head. "I'm… not sure how to reply to that." She answered, which made Dominic frown at her.

"Fine… We have a lot of walking ahead of us." He said, tucking his hand into his pockets and kicking some dirt. Back on the interface, Dorothy quietly shook her head. "Hormones are crazy when you're 17." She said with a giggle, looking back at Todd, who had his hands in his back pockets. "Still, I didn't think mine were that bad." He replied, though she chuckled and switched the feed through students upon students, some being eaten by a Nevermore or other things depressingly hilarious

"What about our other interesting Weathersky sibling?" She asked openly, switching the feed to Nia, who was kneeling over the cliff, using a pair of binoculars to scan the horizon, casually taking note of the black blobs of distant grimm as she planned her route. Suddenly, she heard a growl behind her. Shooting around and collapsing the binoculars she was looking through, she drew her saber, standing at the ready.

Behind her was an Ursa, trying to swing at her with a half growling roar. She quickly parried the strike, leaping off the cliff and landing on the branch of a tree, leaves falling out from the sudden shock of her weight. The bear growled more, looking down at her and leaping after her, landing on the same tree, but breaking the trunk in half and sending the entire tree crashing to the rest of the savannah.

Nia handsprung off the tree, landing a distance away as the Ursa scrambled back to it's hind legs, launching another deafening roar her way. She covered her ears, getting onto one knee from it shaking her to the core. She quickly scanned the horizon. "The roar calls other Ursa.. I need to get it to shut up." She muttered to herself. Sliding her hand into her belt, pulling out a dust charge and sliding into into the tube on the handle of her blade, hitting it on her knee and her blade lit ablaze with fire.

"Alright, time to burn." She gloated, launching herself at the Ursa and readying an attack, the beast attacking her as well, before her body suddenly turned a light shade of blue, almost intangible, phasing through the beast until she was standing behind it, with her blade inside. Her body went back to normal, the blade now lodged in the Ursa's heart, searing the flesh and filling the air with an awful, pungent stench of death. It flailed to hit her, Nia easily ducking it and sliding up, slashing from it's heart to the top of its skull, splitting it in half before it began to disintegrate.

She quickly spun her saber, extinguishing the fire for now and sliding it back into her scabbard. "And that's the end of th-" She was cut off by another Ursa slamming its claws into her back and sending her face first into the cliff she dove off of earlier, hitting so hard she nearly made an imprint on the cliff face until she tried to peel herself out of the cliff. Suddenly getting slashed at again, blocking by planting her foot against its palm, bouncing off the wall and sending her to the floor, tumbling a few times until she recovered, looking up at the much larger, and much angrier Ursa Grimm turning to face her with an angered sneer.

"Alright… This one might be a little harder." She mused to herself, the beast diving at her with unmeasurable speed for a beast nearly the size of a semi truck, Nia quickly dove down, her body phasing again until she disappeared into the ground. The bear clawed the ground in confusion, slash marks forming in the dirt from it's claws, the soil kicking up again and again as it struggled to find her.

A hand launched out of the ground back at the top of the cliff, Nia pulled herself up out of the ground and back to her feet. Drawing her blade again, and even before she could consider how high of a drop it was, she lept off the cliff, blade straight down as she aimed to pierce its skull. "HURAAAHHHH!" A deep, manly voice shouted, running shoulder first into the Ursa and launching it away, Nia landing on the bare ground, her blade plunging halfway into the earth, landing on her butt, stunning her briefly.

She leaned to the side, seeing the massive man with a long blue mane of hair panting for air, a massive axe rested on a leather strap over his back. The Bear Grimm was on the ground in a pile of knocked down trees. The big man rolled his broad shoulders to make them pop. "How bout that, ya big dumb bear!" He said, breaking into a hearty chuckle.

"D-did he just…?" Nia said, pulling her blade from the ground and checking it's profile to see if it was cracked. Her blade was in decent condition, so she readied herself for a fight as the Usra stumbled back onto it's feet. "Raaaaahh!" He immediately charged the beast, his axe over his head and launching himself full speed at the beast, but his bulky frame made it very hard to call it anywhere near 'fast.'

He swung, the beast quickly dodged the attack, making him swing at the air and stumble. "He's the strongest I've ever seen, but he hits like an idiot." She muttered, dashing just behind him and launching a quick slash across it's arm, wounding it and sliding between the gap of it's teeth, rolling on the ground and spinning to see the huge man swing another time with his axe and completely missing. "I uhh.." She stammered, watching him grow more frustrated.

"IT'S A BEAR HOW CAN IT BE FAST!?" He shouted, slamming his axe on the ground out of frustration. Nia just sighed, grabbing an ice dust charge and preparing her sword to freeze it in place. "Look, Axe guy… Just.. wait a minute okay? I'll slow it down." She said, completely deadpan and in disbelief. The huge guy just swinging wildly, the Ursa responding by almost casually backing away from each extremely predictable hit from how much windup he was putting into his attacks.

"You gotta like… Hit it where it can't dodge! Try doing anything that isn't literally the thing you keep doing!" She shouted advice, the frost forming on her blade, cold condensation coming off the blade as it froze the air around it. "Like, try doing that, but also jumping!" Nia shouted at him, the big man looking back and nodding his head in response. "That, but jumping!"

He dove into the air, slamming his axe into the beast's back hard enough to crack the ground underneath of it. It shrieked in pain, standing up from its haunches and knocking the big man off of it. Nia slashed her blade, forming a wave of near zero air that attach to the Ursa's legs, freezing them together and leaving it in the standing position it moved into. "Almost missed, thank goodness it hit." Nia said to herself, Looking over at her huntsman in training partner she somehow got during this fight. "You! What's your name!?" Nia shouted across the way, He put a hand on his cargo pants, straightening his back.

"Marduk Athos!" He shouted back at her. Nia nodded, running around the Ursa to stand beside him, facing the rear of the beast as it struggled to turn around. "That ice isn't going to last too long, it's pretty strong. We need to kill it already." Nia spoke to Marduk, he nodded. "It's handicapped, nail it right in the head. I'll distract it!" Nia shouted as Marduk got his axe ready.

Nia ran up it's back, leaping off it's head and covering her face from the deafening roar it shot up at her. Twirling in midair and landing in front of it, dodging a few claw swipes as she tried to keep it's hands busy. Catching a swipe of it's claws by launching her saber into the soft part of it's paw, making it wince somewhat in pain, but continue pushing her. She was no match for its strength, so she began to slide along the ground. She pushed her blade deeper, in hopes she could keep it still long enough for Marduk to hit it.

"N-Now!" She shouted, her legs struggling to hold on to her grip on the ground. Marduk used his strong legs to launch himself into the air, nearly 30 feet into the air, spinning forward and using all the momentum to launch it's axe into the base of it's skull, slamming its head into the ground and cracking the earth beneath it, the Grimm fading away. Nia took a deep breath her hands on her knees so she could recover a bit.

Marduk gently brushed some of the sweat from his brow. Lifting the axe with one hand back to the strap of his back, a magnet hooking it back into place. "Well, that went well." Nia said, catching her breath and trying to fix her hair back into the loose ponytail she typically has it in. "Yeah! That went great after I could actually hit it." He said, giving another chuckle.

"Yeah… You can't just swing randomly with an axe that heavy. You should try and measure your strikes a little better." She said, hoping to not sound too critical of him despite the fact she was trying to offer some criticism. He frowned at her and sighed. "Who trained you how to fight?" Nia asked, before Marduk could really say anything.

"No one, really." He replied, Nia looking at him curious. "This is my father's weapon back when he was a huntsman, but he wanted me to be a blacksmith and keep his business running." He Explained, casually retaping his fingers to help him get a better grip on his axe blade. Nia crossed her arms underneath her chest, looking up to Marduk. "So, not a fan of making weapons?" She replied, but he shrugged his broad shoulders in response.

"I can make weapons pretty easily, but it feels like I'm doing it because of my dad, not because it's something I want to do. I like fighting, so I decided to grab the best weapon I made and head out here." He said, but Nia was pulling out her Scroll, turning it on hologram mode and setting it on the ground in front of her.

"I guess you'll just have to learn technique then if all you have right now is strength." She replied, but he wasn't a fan of the condescending tone she was putting on. "Do you have a problem with that?" He asked, putting his hands on his hips and leaning forward to see what she was doing.

"I don't hate it or like it… Every person has a skill, and it's about utilizing what you are capable of, don't worry about what you aren't good at." She explained, his expression softening somewhat. "You need to train in a way that makes your strength effective, because if you're hitting nothing then you're just making yourself tired." She continued, slowly scrolling the map of the area to figure out which totem she wanted to attempt to gather.

"You good at climbing, Marduk?" She asked, looking at the map to the north. "Decent enough. Why do you ask?" He said stretching his shoulder some more to get rid of some stiffness. "Because I'm getting a feeling that I want to get the totem from the shine of wind." She claimed with a smile on her face.

"Oooh, I like that idea."


	14. Chapter 10: Hot n' Cold Blues

Chapter 10: Hot n' Cold Blues

Phoebe stood in a clearing, setting her briefcase on the ground and clapping two times. It unfolded, and her robot ViBe slowly climbed out from the frame, standing tall and dusting itself off. "Hello Phoebe. How may I be of assistance?" It asked, motioning a robotic bow for her. Phoebe smiled, putting her hands on her hips. "We're in the wild, so I'm gonna need your help defending me." She commanded, the interface on Vibe's face turned from blue to orange.

"Indeed. Defend the Phoebe!" It spoke with gusto, Phoebe patting it on the shoulder. "Alright! Let's get on it." She said, marching her way in front of them and scanning the area around her. "Find a topographic high point, then activate protocol 5." She replied, ViBe paused, scanning the area slowly. "Finding high point to start life form scan." It announced, its head locking to the right side, a small hill overlooking the rest of the arid forest.

Phoebe and ViBe marched to the hill, as Dorothy and Todd watched the action on camera. "I thought Phoebe was an instructor… Why is she in the exam?" Todd asked his supervisor. She looked up at him, before glancing back at her screen. "Phoebe actually signed up as a student. Her father signed a contract for her to also provide robotics to the academy. She's a borderline genius, but she signed up as a huntress first and foremost." Dorothy explained, Todd tucked his hands in his pockets, leaning in for a better view over her shoulder.

"So you felt like respecting her wishes." Todd mused, which got a nod for Dorothy. "Though, why not just sit back and have the cushy position of engineer, instead of being in danger constantly?" He asked, he tilting his head a little bit and stroking his chin. "I guess that's up to her." Dorothy replied. Back on the screen, Phoebe made it to the top of the hill, the interface of ViBe turned green.

"Beginning scan of 5 km area." It announced, its head scanning the horizon for a few seconds, before returning to blue. "Scan complete. 5 humans, and 15 grimm in the 5 kilometer area." It spoke succinctly, Phoebe adjusting her glasses. "And which human is closest in this area?" She asked. It scanned quickly again. "Half a kilometer south by south east." It concluded, Phoebe turning to face that direction, sliding down the hill and breaking into a run matched by ViBe.

"Alright! Think of this as a surprise party, then!" She joked, the robot faking laughter at her joke as she made her way toward the other human student. In the clearing stood a tall woman with mocha colored skin, her fire orange hair in a mess on her head with two feline ears sticking out the top. Her tail was coated in orange fur and striped with black. On her hands were two massive gauntlets with claws that appeared to be made out of a bone-like metal.

She was toe to toe with a massive beowolf, it's claws drawn and chasing her in circles. She dashed away from it, turning with insane speed and outpacing the beast. Every time it attacked, it would miss and stumble past her. She would quickly kick out her legs, turning around instantly. Launching a slash to it's chest. Her other hand gripped the metal gauntlet fingers around the beast's throat.

The woman unleashed a primal hissing sound. Pinning it to the ground and stabbing it in it's face over and over again with her other clawed gauntlet until the Beowolf cried out, before fading away into black dust. Her hand that was gripping it's throat closed, she got back onto one knee, looking around for any other Grimm in the area, before seeing a Silhouette in the corner of her eye.

"RAH!" She cried out, launching herself at Phoebe, claws outstretched with an insanely intense speed. ViBe blocked the attack, pinning itself against the girl as she looked at her with intense golden eyes. "Woah woah woah! Relax. We're all friends here." Phoebe spoke after letting her heartbeat settle down. The fierce expression of the tiger girl began to fade a bit, the robot tentatively letting go of her arm, the claws of her gauntlet retracting back in on themselves to become normal metal gloves.

"I hope you didn't do that to any other students, mauling them would probably get you kicked out of the Academy." Phoebe mused, the faunus girl gently dusting off her toned arms and looking up at her. "I guess I was so prepared for an ambush I let my instincts take over." The tiger girl spoke back, crossing her arms underneath her chest, she was much taller than Phoebe, and clad in a black tank top and orange shorts. There was a lot of skin showing on her outfit, and it looked rather tattered, almost like it was the only pair she had.

"Yeah, just keep in mind it's not student vs student… it's all of us vs Grimm." Phoebe replied, the woman gently tapping a foot on the ground. "Actually, I think I remember you from the exam last week." Phoebe said with a smile on her face. "Rao Wei Yun. Was it?" She asked, her finger poking on her bottom lip as Rao leaned her weight onto one leg. "Surprised you got that on the first try. When I came to Vacuo they called me 'Rao Way Yang.' I felt like the DMV was making fun of me or something." She commented, Phoebe just giving a casual shrug in response.

"Look, we have a 5 day time limit, we should probably get moving." Phoebe said, pulling out her scroll and checking her map. "Hey, I didn't say I chose to team up with you yet." Rao complained, her hands on her hips as she leaned over the shoulders of the shorter woman while she was scanning the area. Rao was slowly walking around ViBe, her gaze wandering a bit as she inspected it.

"Can I help you?" ViBe asked her, Rao looking with very curious eyes as she put her finger in front of her lips. "I still don't know what you are." She asked the robot, who stood up straight, pushing its chest out. "I am ViBe! The first ever powered combat automaton capable of independant thought, created entirely by Phoebe Perdix, the prodigal daughter of the computer genius Waylon Perdix, a subsidiary of the SDC. I also make the best pancakes in all of remnant." It announced in an almost prebaked voice clip.

"...What." Rao spoke flatly, missing about half the words in that sentence. Phoebe just pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed she'll have to explain all of this to the woman later. She looked back up at Rao, noticing the two feline ears poking out of her wild mane of hair. "Wait… You're a Faunus?" She asked, pointing a finger at her, but Rao just gently brushed the accusing finger aside. "What about it?" She asked, her ears flattening to her head some as Phoebe took a deep, nervous breath to ask her questions.

"...Can I touch your ears? They look so fuzzy." She asked, and excited face behind her glasses, but the statement only got a blank, confused stare by Rao. "...Touch.. My… ears?" Rao questioned, her head tilting to the side out of confusion. Phoebe sighed, stomping a foot. "Look, I'll explain all the fancy terminology later on ViBe is supposed to mean. If we are gonna be allies, nay, FRIENDS… Let me rub your fuzzy kitty ears." She spoke with passion, but Rao just looked dumbfounded in response.

"...That's weird. Don't do that." Rao spoke, shooting down Phoebe and making her break into overly dramatic crying in response. "They never let me touch em!" She complained, Rao sighing a bit as ViBe walked back over to the map. "I believe the mountain monument will be the closest for us to reach, Ms. Perdix." Vibe explained, which Rao looked at the map. "I'm pretty sure we can climb a mountain pretty easily." Rao explained, which Phoebe nodded, turning to the north and tucking her scroll away somewhere safe.

The two began to walk along the trail as the forest became less dry and more rocky, the verticality increased and they began to march up the hill until Phoebe began to slow and pant. Rao looked back every minute or so, and Phoebe would be another 10 feet farther behind her every single time.

"What's wrong, Phoebe? You getting tired?" Rao asked, Phoebe putting hands on her knees and stopping, panting quietly from running out of breath. "I-I'm not that suited for long walks, I'm sorry." Phoebe explained, walking over to a nearby tree and leaning against it. Rao rolled her eyes, walking down to crouch in front of her. "You got any water in your canteen?" Rao asked, she pulled out her canteen, popping the cap off of it and tilting it over her head to try and get some of the fluid into her mouth, but it was dry.

"I guess I slammed this down too fast." Phoebe said with an awkward chuckle, Rao reached to her belt, undoing the cap to her own canteen and handing it to her. "Take a drink, we'll refill them when we come across some running water." Rao spoke, her voice a bit calmer than how it usually sounded. Phoebe nodded, gently drinking Rao's water, taking a deep breath afterward and handing the Faunus back her canteen, she closed it and put it back in her pocket, grabbing Phoebe's hand and using her strong arms to pull her back up to standing, but Phoebe was wobbing a little bit.

"Do you want a break? If you're in the sun too long you get sun sickness." Rao explained, but Phoebe cocked an eyebrow. "You mean heatstroke?" She asked, but Rao just shrugged in response. "Whatever. Do you want a break or not?" Rao said, somewhat impatient this time. "Well.. I don't want to slow us down." She said, before gesturing over to her Robot. "ViBe?" She asked of it, the robot walking up and looking at her. "Let me ride on your back for now." She said, the robot immediately kneeling and leaving it's arms to it's side, letting Phoebe climb onto it and sit piggyback for now.

ViBe stood back up, turning back to the north and continuing to walk. Phoebe quietly checking her Scroll to see the next destination as the duo head further north to the mountain.


	15. Chapter 11: Night Sight

Chapter 11: Night Sight

Silas and Lazarus were slowly walking further south to the caves and the temple of wind. They've been walking for nearly 7 or 8 hours at that point, the sun was beginning to set and visibility was dropping fast. Silas was dragging his feet somewhat, clearly not used to this much uninterrupted walking. Lazarus looked back at the tired Silas, stopped his walking. It took a second for Silas to realize that he stopped, he looked back, flicking some of his long hair from his eyes. "Is there something wrong?" Silas asked, but Lazarus took his backpack off and set his pack on the floor.

"We'll camp here, Cyrus. It's starting to get pretty late and if there's as much Grimm as I think there are, we're gonna need it." He said, Silas starting to yawn. "H-hey… I'm not that tired. I could probably go for another hour. And it's Silas..." He countered, but Lazarus just shook his head. "It doesn't matter if you can or not, ya idiot… We're outdoors. You being tired is just gonna make my job of protecting you harder." He said, grabbing a bedroll from his pack and setting it on the ground.

"Cyrus, clear the place of rocks while I find firewood, alright?" He asked, but that just got an annoyed glare from Silas. "It's SILAS. I've told you like… three times already." He complained, taking out his own sleeping bag and setting it on the ground. Lazarus sighed, grabbing a branch from a tree in his hand and snapping it off, handing the leaf covered switch to the younger man, Silas grabbed it as Lazarus turned his back, walking into the woods. "I'll get the wood, sweep the place so we aren't sleeping on any rocks." He said, almost repeating himself as Silas just blew some of his hair out of his eyes in annoyance.

Silas was pretty thorough with his cleaning of the makeshift campground, making about a 20 foot circle around him clear of brush, broken branches and small rocks. Lazarus came back about 10 minutes later, Silas sitting in the middle of the circle with his hands tucked under both of his arms and a frown on his face. "Look, it ain't my fault your name is weird. But I did get firewood." Lazarus said, gesturing to the small logs and sticks in his hands.

"You're like… the first person who said my name is weird. I'm from Atlas, okay? Where the heck are you from?" Silas shot back, Lazarus gestured for him to move out of the way so he could set all the sticks on the ground in a pile. "Vale. I'm from an Island called Patch." He explained, looking for a small stick and checking how flexible it was. "Annnnd… Why are you not in Beacon?" Silas asked, but Lazarus just gave him an annoyed glance. "And why aren't you in Atlas?" He asked back, but Silas paused for a second.

"...Atlas the city, Atlas the Kingdom or Atlas the Academy?" Silas asked for clarification. Lazarus looked confused all of the sudden. "Wait… Did they really name all of those the same? That's dumb." He complained, Silas just sighing. "Look, that's not the point. Circumstance brought me here. It was the only place I could go." Silas said, looking at the floor. Lazarus shrugged. "Same, circumstance brought me here. So… Why this sandpit in the middle of nowhere?" He asked, sitting down as Silas looked at the ground.

"Do you know of someone named Leon Weathersky? I'm his son. I got sent here because it was the only kingdom that would protect me." Silas said with a straight, honest look in his eyes, but Lazarus just blinked a few times. "Never heard of 'em." He replied, which made Silas pause. "Oh… I guess that would've mattered more if you knew him." He admitted, curling his lip to one side to curtail some of the embarrassment from that.

"He was a criminal, a thief. His Semblance made it stupidly easy to steal stuff, since he could phase through objects." Silas said, grabbing a stick and slowly twirling an image on the ground. Lazarus grabbed a string from his rucksack, slicing about two feet of rope and trying it to the stick, making it look like a bow and arrow at first glance. "I don't know what he did, but one night, I found out my mother died, and General Ironwood was frothing at the mouth in rage. He wanted me and Nia imprisoned at the Academy so he could gather information, but the headmaster of Atlas refused, and sent documents to all four Kingdoms to see if they could move me somewhere else." He continued, though Lazarus was inspecting the device he improvised.

"Vacuo was the only one who responded positively, so we moved here. Though the action was so controversial that the headmaster had to step down, give the reigns of the Academy to Ironwood." He continued, his eyes lowering some. "I'm in the Academy to find my dad… how about you?" Silas asked, Lazarus looking away and rubbing his arm. "I'm not telling you a damn thing right now. I got done kicking your face in literally two weeks ago." Lazarus complained, Silas not really reacting as he seemed depressed.

"My parents died when I was young. I moved from town to town trying to find a life for myself. I ended up here, robbing a bank. They decided my probation would be helping find the people I worked for." He said, sliding up the pant leg of his jeans, revealing a black anklet around one of his legs with a blinking red light. "Another reason I wanted to camp… The bullet wound in my leg isn't fully healed yet, and this damn anklet is itchy." He said with a sigh.

He tossed a stick to Silas, who missed catching it and it ended up hitting the ground. Silas picked it up in one hand, then threw the bow over to him as well. "Twist the bow around the stick, Silas." Lazarus requested, Silas doing so. "Okay, use that bow to crank the stick so we can get an ember going." He continued, but Silas just looked at him confused. "Sooo why do that instead of using Fire Dust?" Silas questioned, setting the stick on a log and waiting to spin it.

"I ain't wasting fire Dust to start a campfire. That's just excessive." Lazarus complained, Silas rolling his eyes and slowly cranking the bow, making the stick spin and slowly make a divot in the wood. "I use that for ammo, and I only get so much I can carry on me at one time. What am I, a Schnee?" Lazarus joked, Silas not responding because he was focused on twirling a stick back and forth.

"Oh!" Silas shouted out of excitement, Lazarus got up onto one knee, looking over at him. "Hey! Hey! It's smoking! Look it's smoking!" Silas said with a mixture of excitement and panic, since he was technically lighting something on fire. Lazarus grabbed some dry brush, throwing it on top of the small ember Silas managed, which made him annoyed. "Hey, is this some sort of joke!? Why are you smothering the fire I made!?" Silas shouted, but Lazarus just punched Silas on the shoulder.

"That's not what I'm doing dumbass. Watch and learn." He said, grabbing the brush and lifting up the piece of wood to his face, softly blowing air on it as the smoke began to thicken and spread. A hand blocking from the wind. He blew a few more times, until a small dancing flame ignited atop the pile of brush and wood. Silas' expression lit up from that, as Lazarus put the fire back down onto the rest of the wood pile, which slowly began to be consumed by flames.

"Boom. Fire." Lazarus gloated, crossing his arms as Silas just watched the flames, a bit stunned. "Who taught you that?" Silas asked, looking up at Lazarus as he grabbed some sticks, trying them together with the rest of his rope and standing it over the flame. Then pulled out a small kettle from his bag. "I learned it from years of living on the streets.. It'll save your butt if you're freezing to death." He explained, sitting back.

"Wow, you're like a professional hobo." Silas joked, but that made Lazarus grit his teeth. "Alright, you need to stop making quips or I'll make you sleep in a tree." He complained, Silas putting his hands up in front of him. "Sorry, sometimes I say stuff that I'm supposed to be just thinking." Silas apologized, but Lazarus just sighed, tying the rope around the handle of his kettle.

"Silas, I need your canteen." He asked of Silas, palm outreached as a gesture to match his request. Silas dug his hand into his bag, grabbing his own canteen about halfway full with water, the canteen sloshing gently as he held it a few inches from Lazarus. "Why?" Silas asked, Lazarus quickly snatching his canteen from Silas' hand, pouring some of the water into the kettle along with water from his own canteen.

"Do you have instant noodles in your survival pack?" Lazarus asked, pulling out a small container of them from his own. Silas reached into his own pack and pulled out a similar, but different flavored bowl of instant noodles, each one had a small plastic fork taped to the top. "Wow. Lap of luxury over at Shade Academy, huh?" Silas thought aloud, Lazarus guessed in his head it was probably because no one told him to keep his thoughts to himself.

Lazarus hung the kettle about a foot over the fire, it swaying back and forth like a pendulum before settling, the licks of flames heating the kettle and slowly bringing the temperature of the water up. "Once you see steam, we'll be able to have some dinner." Lazarus explained getting up and rolling a fallen log over beside the fire so they could both sit on it and watch the kettle come to a boil.

About a minute passed and the kettle whistled, steam erupting from the spout, Lazarus grabbed the string, untying it and setting it on the ground in front of him. Popping both plastic lids of the containers and pouring the hot water into both to cook them. "Alright, in about 2 or 3 minutes they should be soft enough to eat." He explained, though Silas was glaring at him. "Hey, I've had instant noodles before.. I know how it works." Silas complained, but just got ignored by Lazarus.

Silas reached over, grabbing both of the canteens into each hand. "Look, I'm going to find a river to fill these in. Okay?" Silas explained, but Lazarus looked over at him. "Okay, but you got ten minutes. Just try not to be an idiot, okay?" Lazarus replied, Silas shaking his head and setting off, but not before grabbing his Scroll to use as an impromptu flashlight to help him see in the dark.

"These things are neat." Silas said to himself as he turned on the light function of his scroll, it wasn't the brightest, but it was enough to see about 20 feet ahead of him and stop him from tripping over the roots of any trees. Once he was far away from Lazarus, he found a nearby tree and climbed up it to observe some of the horizon. "Usually trees near water are green…" Silas spoke to himself, scanning the horizon of the ragged branches to try and find more lively trees.

"Bingo." Silas said, about a few hundred feet away stood a thicket of trees full of leaves gently swaying side to side in the arid wind. He leapt down from the tree, getting onto one knee and putting power into his legs so he could run at his full speed. Making his way to the greener trees, he finally found a small brook of flowing water, heading into a small lake in the clearing. Silas leaned down, looking at the slow flowing water and dipping his first canteen in.

He saw his own face in the water, he looked kind of tired, his hair was starting to get frizzy and he was looking a bit paler than usual. He looked up, looking at the mirrored reflection of the moon in the water, wakes of water flowing gently past his hand as he lifted the full canteen out of the water, dropping his purifying tablet into it and screwing the cap back on.

He turned back, grabbing the other canteen and dipping it into the water again, his reflection suddenly was surrounded by glowing red lights. "Hmm… I must be more tired than I thought." He said, gently rubbing some of the sleep out of his eyes, but when he was finished.. The lights didn't disappear, they seemed even brighter. "What is that…?" He said, leaning into the water until he saw what it was. The face of a creature with eight red eyes, hovering over the back of his head and shrieking at him with it's fangs drawn.

Silas shrieked, diving head first into the water with a splash, coming back up and looking up at a massive spider Grimm, the size of a motorcycle hanging on a thick white web. It sliced the web, landing on the coast, its limbs ready to strike. Silas waded forward in the water, drawing his blades from his belt and getting into a fighting stance. "I didn't even know there was spider Grimm!" Silas complained, but it quickly shot another web to a tree, launching itself off it and at Silas, who spun to the side, kicking up some water and landing back onto the coast.

The spider Grimm collected itself as Silas cautiously began to circle its front, hoping to keep it in his sight if it lunged again. That was until he felt like his leg got stuck. "W-what?" He asked aloud, trying to lift one of his feet before realizing his left leg was stuck in one of those massive webs it was shooting. The spider attacked again, Silas slammed belly first onto the ground to dodge, but felt his chin, his neck and both of his arms get stuck to the floor. The spider winded the web, lifting it out of the dirt somewhat to reveal Silas jumped right into it.

He struggled to break free, sawing the silk of the massive spider Grimm to break himself free. He got one done, but the beast attacked again, Silas got his foot free, kicking his boot into the spider's abdomen and sent it flying into a tree. Silas breathed a sigh of relief as it landed on it's back, struggling to stand up, until he heard nearly a dozen roars similar to it, the dark leaves of the tree lighting up with hundreds of spider eyes, all of the spiders descending from the tree, covering him in webs and skittering all over him.

Silas' eyes widen and he began to shriek, the spiders covering him with more webs as one of the larger ones began to drag him along the ground and up a tree. "H-help! Ahhhh!" He shouted, the web winding so fast now that Silas hit his head on a rock, nearly knocking him out as they began to drag him away to along the river , Silas screaming and thrashing but not strong enough to break the webs. He tried to slice through more silk with is blade, but it slid out of his hands from him still being woozy, both blades hitting the ground, along with one of his canteens.

The shrieking began to fade as he was dragged into the distance. Back at the camp, Lazarus heard the echo of shrieking coming from where Silas left, grabbing his pistols and breaking into a run toward where he heard it, but once he got there, he just saw the flowing water of the small brook. "What the hell was that!?" He exclaimed, looking around before noticing Silas' weapon sitting blade first into the ground, along with Lazarus' own canteen. He grabbed the canteen and two blades and sighs.

"Damn it, Silas… Where'd you go?" He asked himself, looking around the area until he saw a single spindle of silk hanging from a tree. He walked up and grazed his hand along it, but realizing his own hand got caught on it with how amazingly sticky it was. He growled, pulling his hand away so hard he nearly felt his skin peel off along with it.

"...Did he seriously get kidnapped by spiders. Damn it, Silas!" He muttered to himself, putting SIlas' blades in his backpack and trying to follow the tracks in the dirt, the leg markings on the ground and the outline of something being dragged was the best lead he had, so he turned on the light of his Scroll to follow the lead.


	16. Chapter 12: Ties - Part 1

Chapter 12: Ties - Part 1

"Silas?" A woman asked, softly sitting on the chair underneath an awning. Snow was falling outside, the cold air didn't seem to affect her. She was wearing a long black dress, with a purple scarf around her neck. A young boy with messy black hair walked up to her, hugging a backpack in his hands. One of his eyes was purple and swollen shut. The older woman turned to him, gently brushing her raven hair out of her soft blue eyes, gently getting out of the seat and kneeling onto one knee to look at him in the eyes. "Aw.. Silas. Did the kids at school beat you up again?" She asked, Silas' eyes were watering, giving a gentle nod to her. She pouted, gently wrapping her arms around him to hug him close to her.

"T-they make fun of me cuz I do girl stuff...I was trying to paint… an.. and" Silas said, stuttering slightly from being so upset. Frowning and gently nestling his head into his mother's warm embrace. She gently stood up, lifting the young boy into her arms with a little smile. "What the heck do they know? You're smart n' creative… You don't have to justify yourself to them." She said, softly sitting down in a chair, he had his hands on his knees, quietly crying in front of her. "Anyway, what's guy stuff supposed to be? Jumping off things and breaking your legs?" She joked, getting a slight smile from him.

"Trust your mom, Silas. Just do what you like." She said, her hands softly crossing underneath her chest, but Silas made a sniffle before replying. "B-but what if they find out I like making stuff? They'll beat me up again." He complained, but she just quietly shook her head. Walking over to the fridge and pulling out a cookie from a container, breaking off half of it and giving one half of it to her son. Gently breaking off a piece in her mouth as she spoke, the warm colored light reflecting off her almost porcelain colored skin.

"Silas… You're only 7. There's no way people wouldn't take your word for it. Especially if you got a shiner like that one." She said, opening the freezer, taking some ice and putting it in a balled up towel. Gently bending back down to meet him in the eye. "Put it over your eye and count to ten, then take it off for a minute before counting to ten again." She said, Silas doing as she asked, bobbing his head gently to count along without talking.

"Just… Don't try and be 'a man' and suck it up. Men who do that are stupid." She said, gently leaning back onto her counter. "Real men take responsibility for their actions. They take care of themselves, and others if they're capable of doing it." She said, Silas taking the ice pack off of his eye quickly so it didn't get too cold. "Look, sweetie… Just grow up and be good to people, it'll pay itself back one day." She said, softly taking another bite of her cookie at the same time Silas took his.

He gently kicked his feet, looking at the floor. "I-if you say so…" He said, nervously. His mother leaned down, kissing him once on the cheek and shining him a bright smile that made him smile himself, before she heard a doorbell ring, followed by the sound of a door opening loudly in the front of the house. "Hey Catia! Leon wants to go out drinking!" A woman shouted from the front of the house, she stood up, walking away from Silas and leaning through the doorway to look. "Irena, Silas just back from School, could you wait a minute!?" She complained, Silas watching curiously as she turned back to look at him.

"My sister never listens… Look, head to your room and wait for Nia to get back. Alright?" She asked, Silas nodding as he slowly walked out to the front room to see Irena, dressed in a dapper suit and a pair of black gloves, along with a slightly taller man with long, messy blonde hair, his facial hair was in a well trimmed mustache and goatee, and he was wearing a long black cape with red highlights.

Catia walked past Silas, gently hugging the man and kissing him on the lips. "I was busy, Y'know… Silas got into a fight at school." Irena spoke to him, but Silas just slowly began to walk up the stairs, the chatter continuing until all three of them left the house. Silas turned around at the top of the stairs, slowly walking back down the stairs and looking at the window. The sight he saw startled him… it was black, he was looking into pure nothing, only seeing the snow falling from where he thought the sky was. Concerned, he walked to the front door, opening it and walking outside.

There was the crunch of snow underneath his feet, even if he couldn't see it. The air was cold, but not crisp like the typical Atlas winter, the air was thick and heavy, he was struggling to breathe. "M-mom?" Silas asked, but his voice echoed, his eyes being covered with fog, before shaking off the feeling he had, now standing at the top of what appeared to be a large ice cave.

"Welp, this is it." A woman to his left said, he turned back, looking up at her. It was Irena in her usual getup, but now sporting an eyepatch. She also appeared to be shorter at first, until Silas looked at himself, noticing he was a bit taller than he remembered. "W-wha…?" He asked, but Irena quickly mocked him for that. "W-wha?" She said, pretending to do his voice.

"You asked me to train you, Silas. And this is your first exercise." She explained, Silas looking back down at the hole, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets as he looked at the ice cave. It was nearly 50 feet straight down, with snow on the bottom from last nights snowfall. "Look, if you want to look for Leon, this is some serious shit we're talking about." Irena spoke, gently pulling her flask of alcohol out to take a drink of it.

"If you want to be good as me, good enough to go out there and find him.. I'm gonna have to put you through the same hell my teacher taught me." She said, folding her arms and glaring down at him. Silas was starting to wake up from his haze somewhat as she spoke. "So.. Are you really sure about this?" She asked, but Silas still felt confused. "Why are you asking me if I'm sure about this?" He asked back, she put her drink away back into her coat, looking at him sternly.

"Because it's bad enough that my sister's dead… I would hate myself if I ended up killing my nephew because he thought he could totally take on the world as an angry 12 year old." She replied, Silas sighing. "Look… I have to do this." He replied to her, hands still in his pockets. "I just have too many questions, alright?" He said, turning his back to her to look at the cave. "So… What is this training supposed to be?" He asked, but Irena didn't reply, gently walking behind him and shoving him down the cave, sending him falling to the ground below in a splash of snow.

Silas was confused and shocked, though landing in the snow didn't hurt too bad, he was now in a dark, ice slicked hole with snow falling on his face, looking up at the more distant outline of his aunt, who sat on the edge of the cliff, gently sipping her drink some more. "You have 24 hours to get out of this cave. After 24 hours, I'll leave. Whether you come with me is entirely up to you." She said, taking another drink, tucking her hands in her pockets as Silas slowly walked to the wall, pushing his hands against it to feel that it was still slick, way too slick to grab with his hands.

"What kind of training is this supposed to be? How does climbing out a cave help me!?" He shouted, his voice echoing from hitting the walls of the ice cave. "Look kid… As soon as you walk out of these city walls, the world stops caring about you. You're nothing but prey in a world of predators, and if you're gonna find your dad… This is the only way you'll make it five seconds out there." She explained, Silas making a run at the wall, putting a foot on it and trying to run his way up, only to slip and fall back down.

"And you better not cry down there, Silas… You'll attract Grimm." She continued, biting her lower lip as she tested her composure in not helping him. "This test is about how much you want to live, kid." She said, Silas getting back up and landing a hard kick against the wall, but only hurting his toes from it. Running back to the wall, and trying to dig into some of the ice with his fingernails.

"The only thing that matters in a world that doesn't care about you Silas is prove to the world you want to live. No matter what else has to happen for you to achieve that goal. So… Live, or die?" She asked, but Silas' view began to fade into the smoke. "Irena? Irena!?" He shouted, running forward until his body locked in place and grew cold, suddenly, his arms were against his sides and unable to move. His legs weren't able to move either. He shouted her name again, but now he couldn't speak. It was like the air couldn't escape his mouth.

"Live, or die?" He heard her voice echo again, as he shook his head, feeling himself get shocked out of the sleep he was in. His back was against the side of a dark, wet cave. His arms, legs, chest and mouth bound with thick white silk. He couldn't move at all, his mouth felt dry and his body was covered in scrapes from being dragged on the ground earlier. His eyes adjusted to the dim light, seeing what appeared to be large, round objects sitting across the cave from him. His eyes began to dart around the cave to see what else.

Strangely, another student in a similar position as him, bound to a wall, and wrapped in spider webs. Though… he looked much more exhausted, his skin was wrinkled and dry, his eyes were bloodshot and it looked like he was near death from dehydration. He looked back at the rounded objects, as some of them began to split open. To his shock and surprise, hundreds of baby spider Grimm erupted from the rounded objects, what Silas just realized were actually giant eggs. The spiders skittered along the ground and up the cave wall. Silas shrieked, muffled by the webbing as he writhed in place, yet the strange thing was… The spiders just crawled across his body going past him. They went to the other student, the teeth of the hundreds of spiders biting through the webbing, sending him crashing onto the ground with a painful thud.

"O-oh…" He groaned, the student coughing loudly as he tried to get his wits about him. The spider swarm slowly climbed off the wall, hundreds sitting in a circle around the more exhausted student, their red eyes all glaring at him. "N-no! No!" He shouted, turning to a seated position as he tried to look for a way out of the circle. He scrambled, but the spiders leapt on him. He shrieked in horror as the spiders sharp legs and teeth began to bite into him, tearing away flesh.

Silas watched, his eyes shot wide open as he saw the spiders swarm on this man, the horrid shrieking of being torn apart by thousands of bites and cuts, pulling more flesh, skin and muscle on each bite and leaving a slowly growing pool of blood on the floor. He screamed louder and louder for help, until his body laid limp on the ground in a pile of blood and gore, which the spiders were eating. Silas felt a coldness run up his spine, as his heart began to race so fast he could hear drumbeats in his ears. He kicked his legs, shrieking as he felt overcome with anxiety, fearing he would be next for the spiders to eat alive.

Dawn broke over the land of Vacuo. Dahlia got out of her bedroll, zipping it up and rolling it back up so it would fit back into her pack. Things were kind of rocky at first with the person she met up with, Dominic. He wasn't really the best company to keep, and after the first few conversations, it got awkward enough that she quietly decided not to talk to him all that much.

Dominic began to stir in his sleep, waking up and then squinting from the rays of the sun hitting his eyes. "Nnh." He groaned, climbing out of his bedroll and sliding back into his boots, dusting off his outfit which was now stained with the clay they were walking across for the whole day. "I think we should be able to get to the caves by noon." Dahlia spoke, gently stretching her back just a bit as Dominic yawned.

"Noon? I guess that ain't so bad." He replied, checking his weapon, his katana in the scabbard on his waist. He was still feeling awkward from the failed flirting he did the last few hours of the day before, they haven't encountered any Grimm yet, so it was just a lot of walking and uncomfortable silence between the two of them.

"Welp, let's get going." Dahlia spoke, ahead of Dominic, who followed in a quick dash before meeting up just behind her, they broke into a clearing when Dahlia stopped, holding a hand in the air, signalling him to stop. "Wait. I hear something." She said, she heard tired rustling of leaves. She quickly drew her weapon, leaving it in rifle mode for now, Dominic drew his own weapon, tentatively holding it out to block any incoming attacks.

Out from the bushes came Lazarus, who sluggishly dropped on his hands and knees, panting tiredly. Dahlia dropped her defensive stance, gently bending down to a knee and offering his arm onto her shoulder to help him stand up. Lazarus did accept her offer, standing back up as he rubbed some of the sleep from his eyes. "Silas…?" He asked, somewhat exhaustively. Dahlia shook her head. "No…" She replied, but Lazarus put both hands on his knees, taking a few breaths.

"Spiders kidnapped my stupid teammate. I've been trying to find him all night." He complained, though he was having a little trouble keeping his eyes open as he spoke. Dahlia frowned a little bit at hearing the news. "Silas… Short, long hair, wears purple?" She described, Lazarus nodded his head. "Yeah, that one… I thought about leaving him but… I felt too guilty and went back. I don't really know where the hell spiders even nest." He complained, but Dahlia gently began to rub underneath her chin.

"Spiders usually like quiet, damp places. Being in the dark helps as well, it makes people more likely to walk into the webbing." Dahlia explained, which made Dominic chime in. "A damp, quiet place in Vacuo. Never heard of that one before." He added, Lazarus looking at the ground as he tried to think as well.

"Did you see any caves nearby?" Dahlia asked, which made Lazarus' eyes shoot wide. "Son of a bitch…" He said, slapping his hand in front of his face. Dahlia tilted her head, wondering what the problem was. "I just realized which caves would be nearby. The same damn ones we were supposed to be heading to anyway. The Temple of Wind." He said, putting his hands on his hips as Dahlia frowned.

"What if he's already dead? If he vanished last night, the Grimm wouldn't keep him alive, would they?" She asked, but Dominic blinked a few times. "Well that's kind of a dire thought." He commented, but Lazarus just sighed. "Look, regardless of if he's dead or not. I need to find him to just… confirm that." He said, slowly turning south and facing the mountains in the distance, and indeed they did have caves.

"Well this is gonna be a pain in the ass." Lazarus complained, tucking his hands into his pockets as the trio began to head their way there.


	17. Chapter 13: Ties - Part 2

Chapter 13: Ties - Part 2

It's been nearly 2 hours since Lazarus, Dahlia and Dominic have set course for the nearby cave system buried in a set of rocky hills, the actual size of the caves being much larger than they expected, thus making the walk that much more difficult. Though they were stopped by a large, wide mouthed river. The water was somewhat muddy, moving fast from falling down a waterfall just a few hundred feet away, the mouth of the river opening was spawning small whirlpools.

The three stopped, Lazarus looking down to observe the water, then the width of the actual river. "I don't think we could jump across this. It's way too wide." Lazarus stated, Dahlia gently rubbing a thumb underneath her bottom lip. "So we have to swim across?" She asked him, but Dominic scrunched his face to that idea. Lazarus sighed, grabbing his backpack in one of his hands. "Sure looks like it." He replied, but Dominic walked up to Lazarus, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you sure? Maybe there's a more narrow spot we could cross." He offered, but Lazarus just shook his head. "This place is pretty rocky in general. If the river narrows, it will speed up and get deeper. With that speed, and keeping the rocks in mind, we'd be shredded up." He explained, but that made Dominic worry even more. "Look, we'll just.. Head up a ways and jump across instead." He said, slowly turning away to walk as Lazarus reached out a hand to grip his shoulder.

"We're on a rescue mission, we'll have to deal with this if we don't want to be reckless." He explained firmly, but Dominic looked down at the ground and sighed. Dahlia walked up to the two of them, looking at Dominic with concern. "Is something wrong?" She asked him, but he just looked away embarrassed. "Look. I never learned how to swim, okay? It doesn't mean I'm scared, just… I can't swim across." He explained, but Lazarus just pinched the bridge of his nose out of frustration.

"God, do I have to do EVERYTHING!?" He shouted, throwing his backpack as hard as he could, landing on the other side of the river. He turned to Dominic. "Look, stupid. Wait here and don't do ANYTHING until I say so, got it?" He demanded, but Dominic just looked at him with mild discomfort from being yelled at. Lazarus turned around, leaping into the murky water and swimming across. It was rather slow, because he was swimming at an angle to keep himself upstream. Dahlia just watched, wondering what he was going to do.

"H-hey! That doesn't mean leave without me, you ass!" Dominic shouted at him, but Lazarus was too busy ignoring him and getting across the 100 foot stretch of water. Getting to the shore and opening his backpack, pulling out a folded up rope and checking the length of it. He grabbed a rock, tying it to the end of the rope. He spun in place, throwing the rope as hard as he could, but quickly gripping one end of it so it unfurled as it flew, landing in the water a few feet away from Dominic.

"Grab the damn rope and I'll reel you in." He shouted, Dominic sighed, trying to stop himself from shaking as he got into the water, grabbing the end of the rope with the rock on it before the current pulled it away. He sighed, tugging twice on the rope, Dominic slowly winding the rope back around one arm and slowly dragging Dominic across, though it felt quite pitiful, it looked like Dominic was shaking like a lost puppy.

After about a minute of pulling him in, he got Dominic close to the shore, letting him climb out of the water. Dominic took the rope and spun the end with the rock, preparing to throw it again. "Dahlia, do you need this to cross too?" Lazarus shouted, as Dominic sat, his clothes completely wet from the water and trying to dry off by laying in the grass and taking up the sun. Dahlia sighed, her hands on her sides. "Look, what's your opinion on Faunus?" Dahlia asked back, but the fact she answered his question with another question was kind of annoying to him.

"I don't care. What does that have to do wit-" He was cut off, when the appearance of 4 long black appendages appeared from Dhalia's back. They appeared to be… spider legs. "OH MY GOD!" Dominic shouted, startled completely by her sprouting extra legs. She opened her mouth, shooting a long white string of silk into her 4 back sprouted legs, it quickly winding it up into what appeared to be a web. After a few winds, she tossed it across the river, sticking it to a rock, cutting the silk with her teeth and running across it gracefully like it was a tightrope. Lazarus was shocked as well, his eyes wide open as Dahlia turned away from them, the spider legs slowly sliding back underneath her skin.

"There are SPIDER Faunus!? How does that even work!?" Dominic shouted, completely confused, Dahlia turned to face him with an embarrassed look on her face. "You don't really get to pick how you're born, ya know…" She stated, but Dominic was rolling back and forth on the floor in a bit of panic. "I flirted with a spider! Ahhhh!" He shouted, but Lazarus just walked up and kicked him in the side. "She's on our side, idiot. Creepy or not." He said, Dominic slowly sitting up and taking a deep breath.

"That's… Kind of weird considering the circumstances. A spider rescuing a kid from spiders." He explained, but that just got a look from annoyance from Dahlia. "And being a spider Faunus doesn't make me a spider, you insensitive jerk." She complained, Dominic looking at the floor and standing back up. "Okay okay I get it, I'm a jerk. Sorry… I'm just surprised." Dominic said, Dahlia shaking her head as she looked at Lazarus, who was putting his backpack back on.

"Look, let's just get to the caves already." Dahlia spoke, gently adjusting the strap to her machine gun on her back as Dominic watched the Faunus in her blue backless dress walk past the both of them. Lazarus turned to Dominic, staring at him coldly. "Look, kid." He said, his voice stern. Being called a kid annoyed Dominic, who began to narrow his golden colored eyes. "We're the same age." He shot back, but Lazarus pushed a finger into his chest. "I don't care." Lazarus replied.

"Here's some advice… Just because you think something, you don't have to say it. You can stare at whatever girl you want for all I care, but just learn when you need to shut up. Got it?" He warned, but Dominic looked down and sighed. "Fine. Whatever." He replied, disinterested. The trio eventually got to the mouth of one of the caves.

It stood about 40 feet in height, and every sound they made echoed several hundred times. They slowly walked to the entrance, Lazarus gently unfolding his scroll and turning on the light feature. "Okay guys. Do not wander off, if you don't see this light… stay where you are. Okay?" Lazarus spoke, Dahlia and Dominic nodding their heads, pulling out their own lights to help amplify his. They slowly entered the cave together, the light of the sun slowly fading to a quiet darkness. Every sound could be heard from the lack of nature, the sound of footsteps, the splashing of distant water dripping from the stalactites to the pools of water beneath them. Massive shadows of the three students projecting from the walls.

"Don't wanna make stereotypes here, but do you know anything else about spiders and where they nest?" Lazarus asked Dahlia, who just thought for a second as they slowly walked along the smooth granite floor. The cave split into two, each one sloping downward, but one went left, and one went right. "I'm not sure, but I think it would make sense if the spider set up their home so they only need to look one way for anyone attempting to interfere." She started, putting her hands under her arms.

"So… We need to scout for alternate entrances." Dominic said. Lazarus pulling out his lighter, flicking it and letting the flame dance on the end of the wick of the silver lined lighter. "Cold air is denser than hot air and tends to sink. Cold air is coming from the cave, and flows along the floor to the exit. Hot air rises, flowing along the top of the cave to try and equalize the air pressure. Which way the flame from this lighter goes will be the closest cave exit, we'll have to go the opposite way of that." Lazarus explained, though Dominic looked completely surprised from the thuggish redhead explaining all of that to him.

"Who the hell taught you that!?" Dominic asked, somewhat confused by the explanation. Lazarus flicked the flame out by shaking his wrist. He turned away from the flame, heading down the cave to the right, his friends following as he explained. "I've had to navigate a storm drain once or twice to find a place to sleep." He commented, almost ignoring Dominic's bewilderness, slowly heading deeper into the cave. Every single time they made it to a branching path, Lazarus carefully observed his lighter to follow the cold air to the deepest part of the cave.

Eventually, they hit a section of the cave that was almost completely empty, except for a small slit opening, covered by a massive boulder. Lazarus opened his lighter, watching the flame to see if it stopped dancing, yet, it was gently swaying toward him. "This boulder is blocking us from getting to the back of the cave." He stated, but Dominic slowly walked up to it, inspecting it curiously. "How did they get Silas through this boulder?" He asked, looking back at the two travelling companions of his. Lazarus thought, rubbing his stubbled chin. "My guess is that we might have just used the wrong path than the spiders. We could double back, but that might make this search even longer." He said, gently walking up to the massive rock and sliding his hands along it.

The gap was slightly too narrow for him to slip through. Dahlia was slightly shorter than him, but had a rather average build, so she wouldn't fit either. Dominic was more slender than either of them, so he eyes Dominic. "Hey, kid…" Lazarus said, though just met Dominic's frustrated gaze. "I have a name you know." He said, marching annoyed up to him, Lazarus made space, pointing to the gap in the wall. "Could you slide through here?" He asked, Dominic walked up to the gap, gently pushing his chest against it to see if he could slide in.

"It's an inch too small." Dominic said. "I could get in if I broke my ribs, but… no luck, I'm afraid." He said, softly getting back. Lazarus thought quietly, putting his hands on the boulder. "We need to move this, if we're gonna find Silas before he gets eaten by something. Any ideas?" Lazarus asked, Dahlia reached into her bag, digging through it. "Do either of you have any Dust?" She asked, Lazarus looked at his pistol, pulling it out and spinning it in his fingers as he thought.

"A bit of fire dust. Not enough to make an explosion or anything, though." He mused, but Dominic began to think, slowly pacing back and forth. "It might not be enough fire to blast the boulder out, but it could be enough to make it brittle. Dahlia, do you have any fire Dust?" He asked, pointing to her. She pulled out a few Vials. "I do, though… I think I should save at least a couple, in case any Grimm attack." She said, Lazarus nodding. "Same here… So.. How about we take half from both of our stocks and see what we can do with it?" Lazarus asked Dahlia, she just quietly smiled and nodded, before turning to Dominic.

"Dominic, how about you?" She asked him, but he just shrugged. "Okay, look.. I kinda didn't buy any Dust. Okay? That stuff's expensive…" He complained, but Lazarus just rubbed the back of his neck to stop a headache from coming on. "Look, if we make it brittle, what do we do afterward?" He asked Dominic, Dominic looked to the ground, thinking for a second. "I'll use my Semblance, it'll destroy the boulder. " Dominic proposed, but Lazarus just quirked one of his eyebrows.

"So.. What does your Semblance do?" Lazarus asked, Dominic raised his hand, holding it out. "Do you know anything about computers?" He asked, but Dominic shook his head. "Could never afford one, I spent my childhood as a vagrant, remember?" Lazarus corrected, though Dominic just looked annoyed by him. "Look, don't sass me alright? Most computers have a function called overclocking. It boosts the power of the processor, but risks overheating and damaging it. My semblance works very similar to that." He said, clenching a fist.

"I use my Aura to enhance my speed and strength, but it burns through my stamina when I do it. I can only hold that mode for about 20 seconds before all my aura disappears, and I pass out. If I can land a few good hits on that brittle boulder, it'll shatter." He explained, Dominic nodding his head gently. "If it takes up that much Aura, wouldn't that mean you'd be vulnerable to attacks?" Dahlia asked, Dominic nodding gently. "I have to make sure I use it sparingly or I'm dead in the water." He continued, but Lazarus spoke up next. "We'll also need ice Dust, quickly freezing the rock after we heat it will make it even more brittle." He added, Dominic nodding some.

"Alright, take turns heating and freezing it with your guns. I'll get into the right mindset to use my Semblance." Dominic said, standing back as Dhalia squatted onto one knee, and Lazarus stood pistols akimbo, pointed right at the rock. "When I say 'clear' get as far away from the boulder as you can, I don't want you guys to be hit by shrapnel." Dominic warned, getting a silent nod from the two of them as they opened fire on the boulder. Lazarus fired shots with his pistols on the bottom half of the rock, the dust rounds bursting into flames as Dahlia peppered the top of the rock with her smaller, but more numerous dust rounds.

Slowly, the rock began to glow a deep crimson color, giving off enough light to show off the rest of the cave. Lazarus spun his revolvers, discarding the rounds and switching to ice cartridges. "Dahlia! Ice!" Lazarus shouted, spinning the pistols and firing ice rounds at it, causing an eruption of steam similar to the one he used to help him land earlier. Dahlia followed suit, changing to ice rounds to quench the rock. Dominic stood in place, charging his body as it began to glow a subtle yellow color.

"Hot!" Dahlia shouted, switching back to fire rounds in time with Lazarus, heating the rock back up to a brighter glow this time as the cave echoed with the sound of machine gun fire. Lazarus emptied both revolvers, switching back to ice. "One more!" Lazarus shouted back at her, cooling the rock again until the ice began to melt away, leaving the rock looking blacker and more jagged than before.

"Clear!" Dominic shouted, growling a kiai as he thrusted both hands to his sides. "OVERDRIVE!" He shouted, his body glowing a bright gold, with his eyes glowing just as bright as the rest of him, lighting the cave. Dominic growled, getting into a low stance and cocking his fists back. He dashed at the rock, lunging at it so fast a massive cloud of dust shot up from the ground, blocking the views of Dahlia and Lazarus.

"HORAHRAAAAORRAAAA!" Dominic shouted, launching hundreds of punches per second, each one causing a shockwave as he flirted with the sound barrier. Dents formed in the boulder, the whole cave quaking as he punched with the force of a truck on each strike. Reeling back and clutching one fist, a glowing ball of Aura forming around it. "Take THIS!" He shouted, launching the punch with enough speed that it caused a sonic boom, blasting the boulder into thousands of pieces, and launching the rock against the back wall with a cave with a deafening thundercrack of a punch.

The dust cleared, as Dominic's aura faded, flashing once to signify he did burn himself out. Taking a deep breath, the glow faded, sending Dominic back onto the ground, taking deep, pained breaths. "T-there… Boulders gone." He said, Dahlia putting her gun away and giving him a little applause. "Good job!" She said with a smile, Lazarus had to shake the awestruck expression off his face, gently walking over to Dominic and slinging an arm over his shoulder. "Look.. We gotta move. That was the loudest thing in the universe. We might have company if we don't get outta here." Lazarus stated, Dominic was too exhausted to say anything, as he was still trying to catch his breath after destroying a one ton boulder with just his fists. Lazarus dragged them as they went deeper into the cave.

He kept his lighter trick, going deeper into the cave until they began to see long strands of web along the walls. Dahlia was in tow just behind the two men, but tripped and fell on the ground. Lazarus looked back without dropping Dominic. "You alright, Dahlia?" He asked, Dahlia gasped as she turned around to see what she tripped over… The remains of a person, flesh stripped clean until he was just bones and tendons. She covered her mouth, eyes wide as Lazarus sighed gently. "Look, we need to just get Silas and leave, this situation might be beyond us." He said, but Dominic gently pushed himself off of him, struggling to stay balanced.

"N-no… We have to save Silas, but deal with this too…It's our job to make sure that no one else has to succumb to something like this… We need to do it for all the other students who might end up here one day. Not just because your friend is stuck here." He said, but Lazarus just growled in annoyance. "And I'm trying to make sure all three of us get out of here alive! Silas probably isn't in good condition, and you're barely able to walk after taking out that boulder. Do you think just me and Dahlia could drag you two along with us and get out of here unscathed?" Lazarus pleaded, Dahlia giving a little sigh.

"Dominic's right… I can't live with the idea that once we're out of here, these Grimm will roost here and capture other people in the night. It's not okay to leave this place without destroying the monsters while we're here. Lazarus sighed, raising his hands up and shouting. "Fine! Whatever! Look, let's just go find Silas first, okay? If you guys have a death wish let's just make sure we get one thing done before that." He stated, Dominic shaking his head as he stumbled just behind Dahlia, trying to keep speed as they entered the spider's lair.

The skeletons on the floor just piled up, until they came across what could appear to be a mass grave of skeletons piled ontop of eachother, in the corner, large, rounded eggs were set on the floor in a clutch, up against one of the cave walls. On the ground, a massive blood stain of what appeared to be a recent kill. Lazarus felt disgust wash across his face as Dominic was fighting throwing up. The smell in that room was putrid, foul, and smelled like rotten gore and flesh.

Dahlia frowned, grabbing her light and slowly panning the room, slowly sliding up on the ceiling with the light until she saw a pair of legs dangling from the ceiling. "There!" Dahlia cried out, grabbing Lazarus by the shoulder and pointing him to her light, as Dominic blew chunks off in a corner somewhere. The pair of boots were familiar, attached to black pants, with a purple sash around the waist. Up his arms were the black sleeves detached from his shoulders, along with a black tank top. That was definitely Silas, despite the fact he wasn't moving.

"Alright, we found him. Can anyone figure out how to get him down?" Lazarus asked, since he was nearly 30 feet in the air, attached to the wall of the cave. Dahlia cracked her knuckles. "I think I have an idea." She said, opening her mouth and firing web from underneath her tongue to attach it to the wall beside Silas. Her legs sprouted from her back, spitting the rest of the web to attach to the other wall and creating a tight rope. Dominic looked back right when he saw this, and proceeded to throw up even more. "God, that's so creepy!" Dominic complained between his bouts of projectile vomit.

She lept into the air, the legs hooking onto the room and carrying her across them with ease, her spider limbs seemed to be very strong to carry her with so much grace. She approached Silas, flicking her gun and switching it to the broadsword mode so she could gently saw the webbing off Silas' body. But the sound of cracking startled her underneath. Lazarus looked over to the sound, as another clutch of spider Grimm eggs were about to open. "Son of a bitch." Lazarus complained, pulling out both pistols, ready to attack.

"Look alive Dominic, we have company!" He shouted, Dominic looking up and drawing his katana slowly from his belt, but he was still struggling to stay balanced from his boulder smash he did earlier. He pressed a button, his katana splitting down the middle into two blades on one sheathe, charging with an electric current running between them. "This thing is a big bug zapper in this mode, hopefully that will help." Dominic commented, waiting for the eggs to burst open.

Dahlia cut down Silas, catching him in her arms before she could fall, and slicing her own web and gliding back down to the ground with him cradled in her arms. Spiders burst forth from the egg sacs, hundreds of small black spiders with red eyes erupting forth. Lazarus growled, opening fire with his fire shots and igniting blazes, trying to kill as many of them as possible. "Retreat!" He shouted, stepping back as Dahlia carried Silas up the way they went, and back into the room with the broken boulder to try and collect herself. Lazarus strafed backward, trying to shoot as many as he could with pistol shots. Dominic slammed his blade into the ground, electrifying more spiders who approached too close to his blade, before he turned around and sluggishly ran after the three to the exit of the room.

"Damn it, they keep coming!" Lazarus shouted, shooting more of them, then having to reload. Some of them climbed up his leg, slamming it into a wall to crush some of the arachnids. Dahlia growled, shooting more web, crisscrossing them along the hole entrance, eventually sealing off it with dozens of layers of webbing, blocking the spiders off for now as they heard the horrid shrieks of the newly birthed beasts just outside the room. Silas was set on the floor, so Lazarus dragged him to lean against the wall.

"That should hold them off, for now anyway." Dahlia said, putting her hands on her legs, using web did make her pretty tired, since some of it comes from her aura. She leaned down to catch her breath, Lazarus grabbing a light, shining it into Silas' face. He was pale, paler than he usually is. The strange thing was, some of his hair has turned white, mostly around his bangs. The rest of it seemed less like the deep brown it used to be, and getting closer to a deep grey. His eyes were shut, and his body felt slightly colder than normal, but there seemed to be a pulse running through him.  
"Guys, come help me wake him up." He said, looking back at Dominic, who limped over to Silas and kneeled in front of him. "Oh… I met this kid back at the academy, he called me a weirdo for flirting with his sister." He explained, but Lazarus just glared at him and sighed. "Figures…" He said, looking over to Silas and gently slapping him on the face a few times to try and wake him up.

"He seems out of it. Are you sure he's alive?" Dominic asked, Lazarus slapping his face a few more times until Silas' cheeks began to turn red from soreness. Lazarus looked at his chest, which was slowly rising and falling. "Yeah, he's still breathing. I just.. Don't know why he won't wake up." He said, as Dahlia dug through her backpack, grabbing a small thing of smelling salt and cracking it against Silas' face. He convulsed slightly, his mouth opening wide as he gripped the rock behind him as hard as he could. Dozens more spiders came crawling out of Silas' mouth, making Dominic shriek and back off.

"What the f-" Lazarus said, some of the spiders jumping onto the collar of his leather jacket. Forcing him to throw it off and stomp on it a few times as he had to reload his gun again. "THE SPIDERS LAID EGGS IN HIS STOMACH!?" He shouted in confusion, more spiders erupting from Silas' mouth and crawling down his body. "Ohgodohgodohgod…" Dominic stammered, trying to stomp on the spiders that he could Dahlia pulling out her gun and firing potshots at the ground to kill some of them. Eventually spiders stopped shooting out of Silas' mouth, him coughing up the remains on the ground as he nearly was collapsed. The spider Grimm faded into smoke as Dahlia gently grabbed Silas, sitting him back up so he could collect himself.

"M-mom…?" Silas stammered out, he looked like he died and came back to life.. His skin was clammy and dry, his eyes were bloodshot and his voice sounded ragged. Dahlia frowned at that. "No.. It's Dahlia. Lazarus came to save you." She said with a smile on her face. Silas began to tear up. "I-is this a dream… am I dead?" Silas asked again, but she just sighed, Lazarus leaning down to flick him on his forehead. "No dumbass, you got kidnapped by spiders and we had to come save you. A simple 'thank you' would be enough." He commented.

Silas began to cry, and really cry. That ugly cry where his face scrunched, and tears came out of his eyes as he began to heave and whimper like a child. "Thank you so much…" Silas stammered out, leaning forward and almost falling, until Dahlia caught him in a hug. The tears dripping down his face and landing on her shoulders, making it damp with his tears. "I was so scared.. I thought no one would come and help…" He whimpered, Dahlia just squeezing him a little tighter in the hug as she let him cry it out.

"Silas is nowhere near fighting condition." Lazarus stated, looking over at Dominic. "Get him out of here, Dahlia and I will deal with the spider beast. Don't leave him alone, alright?" Lazarus requested, Domininc's attitude fading as he took Silas by the arm, standing him up. "Right." He replied, slowly turning away and trying to walk their way back to the front of the cave. Silas softly sobbing as they walked away.


	18. Chapter 14: Ties - Part 3

Chapter 14: Ties - Part 3

Dominic had Silas' arm across one of his shoulders, walking the exhausted man slowly back to the entrance of the cave. Admittedly, he didn't have as graceful of a way of navigating like Lazarus did, but the rule he set for himself seemed to work. Whichever pathway went up would take him closest to the exit of the cave. After a few minutes of silence, Silas eventually spoke up. His voice was ragged and weak, but since they were next to each other, Dominic could hear him clearly.

"Do you have any water?" Silas asked, Dominic gently sat him on the ground, getting onto one knee and opening up his canteen. "Here. Just don't drink the whole thing, alright?" He said, Silas taking the water and taking a few drinks from it, just so his throat wasn't hurting so much. He closed the cap, handing it back to Dominic as he spoke. "I saw someone else die while I was in there… I thought it was all over." Silas explained, Dominic put his hands in his pockets as they slowly walked through the cave back to the entrance.

"Man, Irena's gonna kill me." Silas said, shaking his head gently, though Dominic wasn't sure who that is. "Who's Irena?" He asked, Silas quickly explaining in response. "My aunt, she sorta.. Taught me all the stuff I know. She gave me the best weapons she's ever used, and I lose them the very first day of the exam." Dominic whistled, amused. "Wow… That's pretty bad." He replied, Silas shaking his head a little.

"What happened to your hair, by the way? It's like.. Half white now." Dominic asked, but Silas stopped where he was standing, looking at Dominic with a concerned expression on his face. "Wait. What -did- happen to my hair?" Silas asked, pulling out his scroll from his pocket, shaking some of the sticky webs from it and turned on the camera to look at himself. "Wait… It did!" He said, gently sliding some of the strands of his now white hair through his fingers.

"I heard your hair turns white from stress, but I thought that was an old wives tale." Dominic commented, but Silas sighed. "I'm gonna need dye for this, jeez." He complained, closing his scroll and looking over at Dominic. "Sorry for asking all these questions, Silas. It's just… crazy how the spiders got INSIDE you and yet you don't seem to have all that much damage." He said, Silas looking at the floor. "I think I get what happened… Instructor Wolfe told me at the academy that my Aura is based on my emotional state… I was trapped against a wall and saw some terrible stuff." Silas started to explain, his hands in both his pockets. His hands were still trembling, but he felt his composure starting to come back.

"My aura protects me from damage, they were holding me there until it fizzled out so.. They could strip me of my flesh." Silas said, awkwardly rubbing one of his arms. "That's pretty freaky…" Dominic said, as they quietly stood together, staring at eachother. "How did you guys find where they were keeping me? I don't remember myself how I got here, but this cave is pretty deep. I couldn't imagine it was all that easy." Silas asked, but Dominic looked at the floor, scratching the back of his head before admitting the truth.  
"Lazarus did that. He used this… crazy thing by following which way the air was making the fire on his lighter dance. I've never heard of something like that before." He said, casually impressed, but an annoyed expression crossed the tired Silas' face. "HE HAD A LIGHTER THIS WHOLE TIME!?" He shouted, stomping foot on the ground and holding his head so he didn't bust a vein from the oncoming headache.

"W-wha…?" Dominic replied, Silas glaring at him as he explained. "He made me sit in the middle of a clearing, rubbing two friggin sticks together until I made a fire, it made my arms hurt. So he just sat back, watched me sit there and make a fire just to mess with me, knowing he could have lit a damn LIGHTER to help me." Silas complained, but Dominic started to giggle at him when suddenly the cave rumbled, dust falling from the rocks above.

"What was that…?" Silas asked Dominic, Dominic just slowly reached down to grab the grip on his Katana. "Trouble." He said, turning around and taking a step to run, but stomping his foot on the ground in frustration. "Damn it. Dahlia said not to leave your side. I.. can't help them." He said, slightly defeated. Silas furrowed his brow, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry… I don't want to be a burden for you guys." He said, Dominic looking back at him and slowly turning to face him.

"They don't really intend on clearing this cave out, do they?" Silas said, Dominic slowly stroking his chin as he thought. "It was partially my idea. I wasn't thinking it would be this dangerous when I brought it up." He confessed, Silas pacing from side to side. "...Could you help them if I came with you?" Silas asked, but the question made Dominic curious at the idea. "Are you sure? I wasted a lot of energy getting to you… I'd say combined we'd be at 50% max." He warned, Silas sighing a little.

"I know that, but… I can't leave them here. They're in this because of me. I should be at least able to get them out of here." Dominic explained, but Silas was curious, slowly walking in front of him. "What do you mean because of you? What did you do?" He asked, putting his hands on his hips as Dominic chuckled, tugging his collar awkwardly. "Okay, uhh… Here's the thing." He said, slowly going back to walking.

"If you didn't know, we're actually pretty close to the Temple of Wind. These Spider Grimm nested here to pretty much eat any students dumb enough…" He cut himself off, when Silas started to glare daggers at him."Er… Unlucky enough to land near the temple. This will keep happening until someone chases them out. Dahlia agreed with me, and Lazarus is trying to make up for my absence." He said, looking at the ground awkwardly. Silas sighed, lost in thought as he began to consider the possibilities.

"Look… Something in me is telling me that I have to help them too… They're in this because they came to rescue me. It's not like I can go 'Hey thanks for saving me! Bye!' on them, yknow?" Silas expressed, which Dominic just spun his sword in his fingers, looking back to the origin of the noises. "Well, it's settled then." Dominic said, breaking into a run. The tired Silas broke into a similar run, though he was still staggering a bit from not walking for so long. "Let's do this!" Silas shouted back, hoping to assist their two friends with the Grimm.

Deeper in the cave, Lazarus and Dahlia were neck deep in spider Grimm. The deeper they went, the larger they were, Some were even the size of small cars, with 8 hateful eyes, and legs so sharp they could split rocks. Lazarus was in the thick of it, precisely landing shots on the Grimm who got too close to him for his comfort. Each shot resonated against the walls of the cave, nearly hurting his ears. Dahlia was on an overhang from where Lazarus was with a small slope leading up to it. She was perched on the ground, assault rifle in hand as she provided covering fire for him.

"You doing alright on Ammo, Alva?" She projected her voice so he could hear her between each gunshot. Lazarus kicked a spider, stomping it onto the ground and blasting it once in the head. "Starting to run short, actually." He said, annoyed since despite conserving his ammo fairly well, he was still running short. He wasn't just made of bullets. The screeching of a Grimm startled him, spinning around and landing a hard kick to the face of another one, sending it backward. Dahlia quickly getting her sights on it and peppering it with a few shots to keep it off him.

Suddenly, a larger spider dove at him from behind, he quickly rolled on a shoulder, it's front legs clad in bone and dug nearly half a foot into the rock from its attack. He looked to a web coated hole, which burst open, and even more of the larger Grimm sprang forth, nearly a dozen of them from Lazarus' first glance. "Son of a bitch, there's even more of them!" He shouted, loading more rounds into his revolver and taking a quick step back, kicking up dust as he stopped his momentum.

"We need to pull out, NOW!" Lazarus shouted to Dahlia, she reloaded her rifle, firing a few shots that unfortunately missed. "I think they'll chase us down! We're not in a great position." Dahlia responded. Another one launching at Lazarus, who rolled to the side, only to trip and land on the ground helpless. He covered his face, only for the spider to be kicked away by Dominic, who dashed forward, launching the razor sharp katana through the legs of another Grimm, hearing a shriek of pain as he spun his blade between his fingers, giving a grin back at Lazarus. "Yo~" He said, giving a playful wink.

Suddenly a bullet shot past his face, making him squeak from being startled. "What the hell was that for!?" He shouted, but Lazarus just pointed where he shot, a dead spider grimm just a few feet from him, making him take a step back from it being so creepy. "Oh." He mused, but Lazarus stood up, slapping him in the face. "And just WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" He shouted, grabbing him by the tie of his white jacket in anger and pulling him close. Dominic shoved him off, dusting his clothes off. "Helping you, you ungrateful prick." He replied, before pointing behind him.

"Silas' idea. He came with me so I could help you guys." Dominic said, Silas' battlecry fading in almost on cue as he charged at a Spider Grimm. "HAAAAAA!" He screamed, reaching down to his belt, "WAIT NEVERMIND, I DON'T HAVE MY WEAPON! AHHHHHHH!" Silas screamed, turning around and running the other way, 3 car sized grimm chasing after him. Lazarus just watched this with a squalor look on his face and a matching sigh. "We're gonna die. Oh my god." He said, as he heard the faint cries of 'Oh crap! Oh Crap! Oh crap!" Coming from Silas, who was currently running around in circles out of terror.

"I think the sad part is he did the exact same thing when we were fighting beowolves earlier." Lazarus said, defeated, before putting two fingers in his mouth and blowing a loud whistle to get his attention. "I have your daggers, you massive dork!" He shouted, before tossing them where he thought Silas was going to run to. Silas caught one, before trying to catch the other one. He almost caught it, then awkwardly juggled to hold onto it, before it slipped and bounced off the cave floor.

He quickly reached down, grabbing it and doing a neat little combat roll, but lacked the awareness to realize he was surrounded on both sides, crashing into the legs of another Grimm and shrieking in terror. Lazarus just groaned at the stupid, firing two shots to its face so Silas could finish it off with a blade flourish. "Pay attention, kid." Lazarus complained, as Silas got back to his feet to glare at him.

"Wow, you sure made me happy that I came back to help you." Silas said sarcastically, but Dahlia hopped off her perch, landing between the three of them, turning her weapon into a sword and cutting another one down. "I'm glad you made it back, Silas." She said with a smile, before looking at Dominic. "And… You. I guess." She added, his name not on the top of her mind. Dominic looked unhappy, just frowning at her before they all turned to the task at hand.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A LIGHTER, YOU STUPID JERK!?" Silas shouted in a high pitched voice, Lazarus just looked confused at him shouting that. "What does that have to do with now?" He shot back. Silas groaned, before sluggishly launching at a spider, digging his daggers deep into its back, feeling it buck and sending him flying into the air until he slammed the other blade into the beast's back, keeping himself in position and slicing into its head.

The rest of the spiders went down in time, Silas sluggishly finishing them off, as Dominic did most of the damage once Lazarus ran out of ammo. Lazarus finishing the last small one off by stomping it, but the whole ordeal felt like it nearly took an hour. Silas found a place not wiped floor to floor with ink like Grimm blood, leaning against it and taking a deep breath. "Worst day ever." He muttered out, as Dahlia went over to sit with him. "Yeah… But we made it, right?" She said, Silas looking up at her with a smile on his face as she dug into her backpack, pulling out a small box of food.

"Let's take a breather, I don't mind losing a ration for it." She said, Silas gently taking it, pulling apart the chopsticks on what appeared to be a bento box. "Uhm… Thank you." Silas said shyly, before slowly and carefully eating it's portioned. Dahlia sighed, gently getting up from the rock he was sitting on and back to the other two men stationed with her. "Hey. Do you two have any idea where the wind temple could possibly be?" She asked, before the sound of rumbling was heard, some of the dust and rocks dislodging from the ceiling before the rumbling settled.

"Silas and I heard that earlier." Dominic said, wiping some sweat off his brow from what felt like fighting forever. Lazarus tapped his foot, slowly closing his eyes. "Everyone shut up, I need to listen to something." He said, the cave falling silent except for the annoying, but quiet smacks of Silas eating food voraciously. Another rumble sounded, and Lazarus shot his eyes open. "To the right." He claimed, slowly turning to the side and taking a few steps, closing his eyes again to see if he could hear the rumble again.

He walked further, before realizing there was a hole in the ground, sitting against the corner, but it was wrapped tightly in web. "Guys, got anything to destroy this web?" He called back to the other three. Silas just standing up and trying to swallow some rice, spinning his dagger in his fingers as he walked up to where he was standing. "Let me try something.." Silas asked, channeling what little Aura he had left, the blade flickering purple with energy. He sliced the blade through the web, the heat transferring and slowly burning through all of the webs until nothing but ashes remained.

"Why didn't you do that earlier?" Lazarus asked, but Silas just looked behind him. "Because shut up." He snapped back, when suddenly a massive blast of wind shot out of the hole, along with what appeared to be a green glow. The blast was enough to knock Silas back onto his butt, Dahlia and Dominic covering their eyes to block the dust in the air from getting into his eyes. Lazarus looked once the wind settled. The cavern they opened was filled to the brim with what appeared to be green crystals lining the cave, with oddly smooth boulders resting on the ground.

"Is that… Dust?" Lazarus asked, Dahlia closing the gap to look at it. "The temple of wind… I think I get it." She said, looking at him and pointing a finger. "You used wind to guide us here, to a cavern made entirely of Wind Dust! Get it?" She explained with a smile on her face. Silas getting up and dusting himself off. "Is that really why they called it that? This is awful." He complained, when the dust flashed green, and another hurricane force gust blasted the entire room with more air.

They covered themselves from the wind, until it cleared again. The four of them hopped into the tunnel of Dust, slowly walking through it and watching the Dust crystal to see if it would pulse it energy and blast them again with wind. The Dust flashed, Lazarus shouting back to the rest of them. "CHEST TO THE FLOOR. NOW!" He screamed, getting onto his stomach, Dahlia and Silas diving down within the second, but Dominic was too slow, the gust of wind slamming him against the back wall of the cavern, near where they descended at the entrance.

"O-ow…" Dominic complained, getting back on the ground and rushing his way back to the rest of them, ducking on the ground and letting the blast of wind rush over them. With a hand signal, the four of them stood, walking about 30 feet before the next gust of wind. After carefully timing their movements to make it to the end of the tunnel unabided, they found another hole in the ceiling, where there seemed to be a lack of the wind crystals stalling their progress with massive gusts of wind.

Silas lept up easily thanks to his natural agility, Dahlia did the same, though Lazarus and Dominic weren't so lucky. Dominic took a deep breath, flashing gold and activating his ability boost for just long enough to jump up to meet everyone, leaving Lazarus stranded. "Okay, cool jumping guys… Can I please get some help up?" Lazarus asked, Silas oddly getting onto his stomach and reaching a hand down. "Either of you strong enough to hold me as I pull him up?" Silas asked, Dahlia shrugged, gently getting on her knees and taking grip of his legs, unbeknownst to him, also extending her arachnid legs and digging into the dirt as Silas shimmied his hips, sliding down until his torso was hanging off the ledge. "Alright, before the winds gust. Ready?" Silas asked, dangling gently as he stretched his lithe arms out to grab his ally.

"Ready." He said, seeing the crystals flash and making a break for it. He leapt up, slapping his hand against Silas, who quickly gripped as hard as he could on his wrists. "Got him! Pull!" He shouted, Dahlia groaning as she shifted her weight back and using all the strength she could muster to pull Silas back up, who was using his own body for leverage so he could pull Lazarus up with him. Lazarus tumbled to the side, landing on his back right when a massive gust of air shot out of the tunnel, shooting up and out a skylight above them.

Silas was panting on his stomach as Dahlia retracted her extra legs, walking over to check on the two of them as Dominic watched in the background, trying to shake off the goosebumps watching Dahlia pull off spider stuff gave him, before turning around, his jaw dropping as he gazed upon something. "Guys… Look!" He said, pointing a finger at what he was looking at. Silas looked, going wide eyed. "Woah…" He muttered, before Dahlia and Lazarus looked as well. "W-we did it!" She said with excitement, almost hopping on her tippy toes.

Lazarus smiled for once, putting his hands on his hips. "Damn right we did…" He said, they were all gazing upon what appeared to be the temple of wind. A massive building made seemingly out of Clay, holes and tunnels cut through the ceiling that hummed notes as the wind from the dust tunnel flew up and through them before going out the exit on the top. Every time the notes played, the runic symbols of the temple would glow a soft shade of green.

"It's out of a damn video game." Dominic said with a goofy smile on his face, breaking out into a run before realizing there was a long bridge, overseeing a chasm before him. Slowly taking a step on the bridge and leaning on a handrail as he looked down the pit. "That's… Kinda deep actually." He said, gently dropping on one knee, grabbing a stone and throwing it off the ledge and into the darkness of the descent… only to hear it never hit the ground. He swallowed loudly, slowly crossing the bridge until he crossed the threshold and entered the front door, which was wide open and nearly 30 feet in height. The other three crossed in a single file line, each one not sure if the bridge could take their weight, but eventually it led to success.

The inner chamber was large, yet mostly empty. The only detail in it besides the paintings on the walls was a staircase to an array of pedestals, each one featured a small glowing trophy like rock that slowly changed colors from red, blue, green and yellow in no particular order. Dominic smiled. "Does that mean we're the first people here!?" He said, breaking out into a run, heading up the staircase and grabbing the first crystal, it turning red and staying that color. "Ooooh… Red." He said, inspecting it from different sides.

Lazarus went after him, slowly walking to grab the next crystal, his turning blue. "It looks like that spider Grimm knew this place was the temple, so they could nab any students who tried to make their way here. That's kinda messed up." Lazarus spoke, as Silas went next, the one he grabbed turn blue as well. "I'm just glad we actually managed to make it." He said, Lazarus handing him the backpack he lost earlier at camp, so he could store it somewhere for his trip back.

Dahlia got there last, grabbing her piece and watching as it turned red as well. "Do you think it changing color like that means anything?" Dahlia asked, Dominic chuckling a little bit. "Maybe it's playing matchmaker, huuuuh?" He said, leaning over and giving eyebrow wiggles at Dahlia, who didn't even bother responding. "I think if I had to kiss Silas I'd vomit." Lazarus commented, Silas responding with a pout. "Hey! Not cool!" He complained, but Lazarus just chuckled at his expense.

All four of their scrolls rung at once, all of them pulling it out to check their messages. On the other line appeared to be a prerecorded message from Headmistress Dorothy. "Great job, student of unknown gender! Please proceed to the area I've marked on your map to place your glowing stone to finish your test!" She said, before it hung up on all of their lines. Lazarus put his phone away, looking at the other three. "Well, that settles it." He said, slowly turning around and making his way out of the temple, before Silas ran down the stairs after him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Can we take a break first…? I don't want to run out of time or anything, but I think we all deserve a break after what we've been through." He explained, but Lazarus just shrugged, crossing his arms. "That's fine." He said as the four of them went to find a place to camp once they got out of the caves.


End file.
